


Watching the Sky Fall

by Gryffindancer



Series: Marked by Fate [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Avengers Handler Darcy Lewis, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), BAMF Darcy Lewis, Basically this is me trying to fix AOU, F/M, I'M GONNA FIX IT DAMNIT, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Darcy Lewis, SHIELD Agent Darcy Lewis, Smut, Soulmates, WinterShock - Freeform, ducky - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2018-10-09 05:25:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 35,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10404897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gryffindancer/pseuds/Gryffindancer
Summary: She finally had a life doing something important, surrounded by the people she loved.He finally had a life free of pain, fighting for the things he believed in instead of being controlled and tortured by Hydra.The story of what happened when evil forces tried to take that all away from them.[Sequel to Markings Made on My Skin]





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, you beautiful people! I am so beyond excited to FINALLY be posting this story. I've been trying to get a huge head start on it before I started posting since my life has been completely insane lately.  
> To give you an extremely short summary of the last month: My boss filed bankruptcy and closed the dance studio I was managing with ZERO notice to employees and families alike, then promptly went on vacation in Vegas. I started working with another nearby studio, trying to get as many of our dancers as possible back in class _somewhere_ , which has been a super complicated process. And in the weirdest turn of events ever, I got like five and a half job offers over the course of a single weekend (I'm still kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop).
> 
> But I'm back, and so is Darcy and Bucky :D Right now, this sequel is looking like it will be somewhere around 10 chapters, and I've gotten about 7 of them written, so here's hoping I can post semi-regularly. 
> 
> A HUGE thank you to uconnhuskiesfan_wintershockship for beta-ing the crap out of all my unnecessary commas and cheerleading and validating me when I need it <3 Also, humongous thank you to my other cheerleader, HKThauer, since without her original prompt, this universe and story wouldn't exist!
> 
> The title is from Panic! At the Disco's _Death of a Bachelor_ , (and seriously, can we talk about how robbed they were at the Grammys!?).

Bucky breathed through his nose, keeping his pulse steady as he fired round after round at the enemy operatives coming at them through the trees. He and Barton were in the back of the Stark Jeep (Stark hated when they called them that - they were technically Stark Terrain Adaptable Road-optional Kevlar-enhanced Vehicles, or “STARK-Vees”) that Natalia was currently driving through heavily hostile territory outside of a small Sokovian town. Bucky grunted and his knees threatened to buckle as Nat hit a particularly rough bump in the snowy forest floor, but he recovered in time to switch sides with Barton so they could change up their attack pattern and try to take the advantage over the Hydra soldiers who kept coming at them, some of whom were wearing some kind of purple-glowing electromagnetically propelled flight gear. Nat flawlessly kicked out the open side of the vehicle, making contact with one of them and sending them flying into a tree. Barton elbowed another harshly, throwing the man off-course, before returning to firing arrow after arrow.

The Hydra jeep that was tailing them closely was suddenly granted a clear enough breadth between the trees to pull up to the side of their vehicle. Before the gunman in the back could even get off one round, Thor landed atop the vehicle and threw him out, his cry disappearing with him into the cold air. Bucky threw a quick nod of thanks towards the Asgardian, who took off again, flying up to land on one of the enemy’s tall scaffold-like watchtowers.

Bucky ducked quickly to give Clint the opportunity to pivot and fire an explosive arrow, and as he knelt there in the bed of the Jeep he took stock of where the rest of the team fought in the woods around them.

Steve was driving through the terrain on his bike, banking his shield off of the trees before Sam swooped past and grabbed the metal disc, hurling it back at its owner who caught it one-handed and returned it to his back. Steve stuck a leg out to the side to quickly spin the bike as Thor hit the ground in front of him, bringing Mjölnir down in front of another enemy jeep just as Stark flew past, hitting it with a repulsor blast. Their combined efforts sent the entire thing flying in a fiery arc until the Hulk caught the hunk of burning metal and threw it even further away.

Nat reached a defensive ridge built into the landscape with sandbags and barbed wire and turned the vehicle sharply to the right as she, Barton, and Bucky all dove out of the car and across the enemy’s lines of defense.

Bucky tucked and rolled as he hit the ground and began running through the trees, dodging weapon blasts and firing back aggressively with his Skorpion pistol.

“You’ve got incoming, Tony,” his girlfriend’s calm voice warned them via their comms.

“Thanks, Lewis,” Stark responded, and Bucky chanced a glance upwards at the flying red and gold suit. Stark was currently headed for the castle that was currently occupied by Hydra forces and that they were currently trying to storm, ducking and dodging around the silvery-blue energy blasts that Darcy had warned him about.

That was his girl. Keeping an eye on all of them remotely, via Jarvis’ real time satellite feeds, making sure they all ended up coming home in relatively one piece.

“Shit!” Stark yelped suddenly, as his suit collided with some sort of forcefield around the Sokovian castle.

“Language!” Steve scolded him through their comms, and Bucky managed to hold back the laugh that threatened to follow if only because at that same moment he had to dive out of the way of machine gun fire. “Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?”

“The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield. Strucker's technology is well beyond any other Hydra base we've taken,” the AI informed them.

“He’s right,” Darcy chimed in, “Doesn’t look like there’s any part of that building not covered by that damn energy shield.”

“Looks like the bastard’s learning,” Bucky snarked, ducking as Steve’s shield flew past him.

Darcy mused out loud, “Hell, Tony should consider developing that tech for the tower. It’d save an assload in re-construction costs every time some whack job gets ideas about attacking us.”

Thor pulled their focus back to the mission at hand. “Loki's scepter must be here. Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it. At long last.”

Bucky had just ducked behind a tree when he saw two more Hydra soldiers running up the ridge to his right, guns drawn. He didn’t spare a second, moving directly into their path where he stayed low and kicked sharply, striking the first soldier in the kneecap. His knee buckled backward with a loud _crack_ , and he fell to the ground making it easy for Bucky to knock the gun out of his hands. The other soldier had aimed his gun directly at Bucky’s head, but Bucky grabbed the muzzle with his metal hand, blocking the two shots he managed to fire before wrenching the pistol out of his grip and using it to strike him hard across the temple. The man went down, out cold. Bucky tucked both discarded pistols into his tac suit then jogged up to the top of the ridge to get a better view of the field.

“‘At long last’ is lasting a little long, boys,” came Natalia’s dry reply to Thor’s comment. This was quickly followed by the sound of three gunshots in quick succession.

Bucky heard Barton snort, “Yeah. I think we lost the element of surprise.”

“Well, it’s not exactly as if we’re not working on it,” Sam huffed as he dodged shots mid-air from a particularly persistent energy cannon. Bucky took off down the other side of the ridge to dispatch the gunman giving Sam trouble.

“Wait a second,” Stark interrupted, “No one else is gonna deal with the fact that Cap just said ‘Language?’”

Steve sighed, “I know,” and Bucky could practically hear the man rolling his eyes at himself, even as he flipped over the handlebars of his bike and literally threw it at an oncoming enemy jeep. “Just slipped out.”

“It’s okay, guys,” Bucky assured them as he pulled a 40mm grenade from his belt, activated it, and threw it at the gunman still following Sam’s flightpath. “He’s always been an uptight little punk,” he teased his best friend. The gunner’s platform exploded, taking him out along with three nearby Hydra agents.

“Thanks, man,” Sam said.

“Okay, let’s settle this fast and get back to it.” Darcy’s voice reasoned in all of their ears, “Tony, chill. Steve, I’m buying you nothing but grandpa sweaters for your birthday. Now can you all focus, please? My job gets harder when you guys get hurt.”

“Yes, mom,” Stark replied.

Darcy made a noise of protest. “Yeah. Don’t call me that. That’s weird, Tony. Hey, Jarv, wanna tell me what’s happening with those energy canons on the battlements?” And with that, she turned her attention back to Tony’s attempt to breach the energy shield and infiltrate the castle.

Several minutes passed and the team just fell back into their rhythm together as they slowly picked off the rest of the Hydra agents in the forest. Bucky kept his breathing steady and even the whole time, so his mind could stay sharp and a step ahead, while his body worked easily -- the physicality of fighting coming so naturally to him. But his concentration was broken by a panicked shout from Natalia.

“Barton!”

“Fuck!” Darcy shouted at them through their earpieces. “What did I literally just tell you guys?” Her words were harsh, but her voice was full of real concern.

Bucky looked up from where he had just disarmed three more agents to scan the field for them, but the first thing that caught his eye was Steve running, then suddenly the faintest blur of color passed him and Steve was on the ground. It was almost like a trick of the light, but Bucky knew Hydra too well for that. His hackles were up and his fists clenched. The plates in his arm whirred as they recalibrated with the shift.

Steve recovered quickly. Standing and looking around for his attacker. “We have an Enhanced in the field,” he announced to the rest of them. “Darcy, can you get a location on this guy?”

“Or a description?” Sam asked from above. “Mugshot? Glamor photo? Give me somethin’ to look for.” He was circling, guns drawn and trying to cover them, but also clearly trying to suss out the same thing they all were. _Who the hell were they dealing with now?_

“I’m working on it,” came Darcy’s response. Bucky could hear the clacking of her keyboard through the comm, as she got to work zeroing in on their location using Jarvis’ satellites.

“Barton's hit!” Natalia shouted again. And this time as Bucky glanced around, he found her, kneeling by Barton’s side some fifty yards away. She was trying to patch him up as best she could with her limited field supplies. “Somebody want to deal with that bunker?”

“I’ve got it,” Bucky replied immediately. He began to strut toward the bunker, shoulders set and ready to lay some waste. But then the Hulk barrelled past him, ducking his large green head and smashing straight through the bunker in one running stride, leveling the entire structure. Bucky’s eyebrows shot up and he paused, “Nevermind. He’s got it.”

“Thank you,” Natasha said simply, getting back to the task of patching up Barton’s side.

Bucky saw four more Hydra agents begin to take offensive stances facing Steve’s direction, and he figured he could use the challenge. He tilted his head, cracking his neck, and pulled one of his larger knives, the Gerber Mark II, from its spot on his hip and flipped it casually in his hand before approaching them from behind.

“Tony,” Darcy’s voice sounded markedly more stressed than it was a moment ago, “we really need to get inside.”

Bucky had already struck and incapacitated the first two agents by the time the second two realized anything had even happened.

“I'm closing in,” the billionaire assured her. “Jarvis, am I closing in? Lewis, do you see a power source for that shield?”

A swift ankle kick, brought one agent down while Bucky dealt with the other until they were both out of commission. He glanced at their side arms. It seemed equal parts a waste and a risk leaving them, but he was pretty much out of places to store more weaponry on his person.

“Uh, just a sec’. Jarvis?” came Darcy’s reply, “Help me out here buddy.”

Jarvis spoke up quickly, “There's a particle wave below the north tower.”

“Great,” Stark said, “I want to poke it with something.”

“Truck full of what looks like missiles, directly in front of you, dude,” Darcy said.

“See, this is why you’re my favorite,” Stark replied. A moment later they heard an explosion muffled by the distance. “The drawbridge is down, people,” Stark announced.

“Have fun storming the castle,” Darcy responded in a bad Yiddish accent.

Thor landed beside Bucky, and Steve jogged up to them a second later. “The Enhanced?” Thor asked Steve.

“He's a blur,” Steve answered. “All the new players we've faced, I've never seen this. In fact,” he admitted, “I still haven't.”

“You sure your eyesight’s not just goin’, Stevie?” Bucky joked, but his tone lacked the mirth it might have under different circumstances.

“Barton's hit pretty bad, guys. We're gonna need evac.” Nat’s voice was steady but still laced with concern. He knew that wasn’t a good sign. If the Widow was shaken, things were genuinely pretty bad.

“Who’s doing the heavy-lifting, guys?” Darcy asked in their ears.

Thor answered right away. “I can get Barton to the jet.”

“Hey, you ask me,” Sam cut in from where he had landed and was busy covering Nat and Barton from the ground, “The sooner we're gone, the better.”

“Steve,” Darcy instructed, “Go help Tony get the scepter. The rest of you can finish cleaning up this sorry lot.”

Everyone gave their various comments of assent to her orders. 

“But first, heads up, boys. It’s lightning time.” Darcy’s voice sounding nearly gleeful and Bucky didn’t bother suppressing a small smile at her tone. Of all the new tricks the team had been working on in training together, she had a clear favorite and this was it.

Thor raised an eyebrow at the Hydra agents who were assembling as if to initiate an offensive attack. “Looks like they're lining up.”

Steve shrugged and held up his shield, “Well, they're excited.”

Thor lifted Mjolnir and brought it back down sharply on the shield, creating a lighting explosion that shot forth and knocked down the enemy agents like bowling pins.

“Back to work boys,” Darcy said.

Bucky clapped his flesh and bone hand on Steve’s shoulder, “Find the scepter.” Steve nodded, then jogged off in the direction of the castle.

“And for gosh sake, watch your language!” Stark said with mock exasperation.

“That's not going away anytime soon,” Bucky heard Steve sigh, and he let out a sharp bark of laughter even as he jumped back into action, taking down the last few Hydra agents in the snowy forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my lovelies<3  
> So, not so much in this chapter, but in future chapters, there will be a fair amount of dialogue straight from the AOU movie. There are more and different characters worked into my story here, and of course, we're seeing things from a different perspective. But, while I don't usually bother to put disclaimers on my AO3 stuff because I feel like it's pretty easy to assume the source material isn't mine, I think I'll air on the side of caution this time around. 
> 
> Dear Marvel,   
> You're lovely, but I don't own you or any of your characters. If I did, I wouldn't be drowning in student loans.  
> Love,   
> Gryffindancer  
> Ps. Get your shit together and get Black Widow her goddamned movie already. Kthnxbai.

“Agent Lewis,” Jarvis’ prim accent interrupted the concentrated stare Darcy had been leveling at her work station for the past several hours.

She blinked several times, as her vision readjusted itself to something other than the screen she’d been looking at. “What’s up, Jarv?” she asked, reaching put her glasses back on. She often took them off if she was locked into her computer for a while (‘cause who wants a headache?).

“The Avengers’ quinjet is approximately five minutes out from the tower.” 

“Thanks, J.” 

Darcy pushed her rolling chair back from her desk and stood, twisting one way, then the other, to crack her back after sitting for so long. This was why she never dressed up to come into her office if she was going to be overseeing Avengers missions. For press conferences or official SHIELD appearances, sure, she could work the hell out of a pencil skirt and a blazer. But for hunkering down for hours the way she had just done, she usually just threw on leggings and a flannel shirt and called it a day, which was how she was dressed at that moment.

Her StarkPad _pinged_ to let her know that the information she had compiled for Agent Hill had finished sending. She picked up the tablet,minimized the large display of holoscreens that had been set up around her desk, then grabbed her half-empty, mostly-cold-by-now cup of coffee to head up to meet the team on the helipad.

She pushed through the door to her personal office and crossed the floor full of cubicles. When she reached the elevator Maria Hill was already standing there waiting, looking impeccable in her sharp navy dress and heels. The older woman had her gaze trained on her own tablet, and Darcy could tell she was already flipping through the files she had just sent her.

“Maximoff twins, huh,” Maria said without looking up. 

“Yeah,” Darcy answered. The elevator arrived then and they both stepped in. “The police action in Sokovia hasn’t exactly been kind to them. Just the kind of people Hydra likes to get their claws into. Probably didn’t have to do much convincing to pull them from the war-zone.”

“Feeling helpless in the face of violence can lead people to desperate ends,” Maria agreed, finally looking up from her StarkPad as the elevator approached the helipad.

Once the car arrived they stepped out and saw Helen Cho’s medical team, in their clean white and sky blue scrubs, waiting for the quinjet to finish docking so they could get to work on Clint’s injuries. Doctor Cho nodded to the two other women and together they waited the few moments it took until the gangplank descended. As soon as it was down, the medical team rushed onto the jet and began getting Clint prepped to move. Darcy and Maria waited while they wheeled Clint’s gurney down the gangplank, Natasha running along beside them, and Doctor Cho already communicating a steady stream of instructions to her team in Korean.

As they passed, Clint reached out a hand which she took. “Sorry, Darce.”

Darcy gave his hand a quick squeeze, “Shut up, you. Just get better or I’ll kick your ass, myself. Got it?”

He gave a pained smile in agreement as they wheeled him off to the elevator.

Once they had gone, Maria headed for the jet to liaise with Steve about the details she now had on the enhanced subjects they’d encountered in the field. Darcy grinned as she saw her boyfriend heading towards her. He looked tired, but he didn’t seem to be moving as if he had any injuries to speak of so she found herself able to relax the set of her shoulders. Despite the fact that she was often either with them on field ops, or helping them remotely, and despite the fact that she could physically feel if he ended up with any major injuries due to their soul-bond, she still worried over her scowly assassin. She always felt better when she could check him over herself to make _sure_ he was okay.

“Heya’, sarge,” she said fondly as he got close enough for her to wrap her arms around his waist. 

Bucky pulled her tight against him and Darcy felt some of the tension drain from his muscles as he did. “Hi, doll,” he breathed into her hair. After a moment, he pulled away to look at her, “Miss me?”

“You know it.”

Thor and Sam passed them then, the former carrying the long vibranium crate containing the scepter, and the latter cleaning the lenses of his red-tinted flight goggles with a rag. Darcy reached out to punch Thor playfully in the arm,”Hey Lightning Bro.” 

Thor, for his part, pretended as if the blow had wounded him greatly, grasping his arm, stumbling back and gasping dramatically. Sam and Bucky both chuckled at the two of them.

Darcy rolled her eyes. “Come on, you goofs. I had Jarvis order from that Thai place you all like so much. Should be here by now, and I can tell you everything I know about the enhanced you encountered out there.”

They all got into the elevator to head down to the residential levels. Darcy took an absent sip of her coffee, wincing when she remembered that it was hours old and stone cold. 

Bucky glanced over at her. “You okay, doll?” he said, his tone low enough that Thor and Sam paid them no mind, too wrapped up in their own conversation about which made a better appetizer, crab rangoon or fried wontons.

She nodded, “Yeah, I’m just exhausted. I don’t think I’ve gotten a full night’s sleep in about two weeks, and my body’s starting to notice.”

“We should try to go to bed early tonight.”

“Okay, grandpa.”

“You joke, but I mean it, Darcy. I don’t want you gettin’ sick from working yourself into the ground.”

“Hey, I’m just trying to keep this shit-show running,” she gestured vaguely as if to indicate all of them collectively.

“And you do a great job of it,” the corners of his eyes crinkling as he chuckled. “But if you’re out of commission ‘cause you’ve overworked yourself, then there’ll be no one around to keep Tony from inciting anarchy.”

“Ugh,” Darcy rolled her eyes, but at the same time she shifted her coffee cup to the same side she had her tablet tucked under her arm so she could take his hand, interlocking their fingers.

Once they reached the residential floors, Darcy followed through with their debrief and then, while they ate, she gave them the rundown on the Maximoff twins that they had encountered in Sokovia. No one was overly surprised at the appearance of new enhanced individuals. They had been running into more and more of them, mostly thanks to Hydra’s efforts to create more human weapons that they could control and keep in their arsenal. But these two had caught them off guard due mostly to the nature of their powers. The brother, Pietro, could manipulate the vibrations of his body resulting in super speed, and the sister, Wanda, was a telepathic and telekinetic.

Once everyone had eaten and Darcy had wrapped up her briefing, people dispersed again. Most of them found a moment to run by Bruce’s lab where Doctor Cho was set up and still working on Clint’s injuries, to check on him. After that Darcy and Bucky headed back to their apartment together.

Darcy sent him off to take a shower while she made more coffee. She knew Bucky wanted her to get more sleep, but she had gotten twelve more emails in regards to the Sokovian mission and SHIELD’s security protocols regarding the scepter just while they were eating dinner, an email from Jane (who was in currently Australia completing a temporary residency at the University of Melbourne), and she needed to get a jump on filing her mission report to send to Coulson. She was halfway through her fresh cup of coffee when she heard Bucky’s exasperated sigh behind her.

She turned her head from where she sat at their kitchen table to see him walking toward her from the door to their bedroom. His skin was still flushed and damp from the heat of the shower, and he had a towel slung unfairly low around his hips.

“Darce,” he said, tilting his head as he approached her. “What are you doing?”

“I needed to get some stuff sent to Coulson,” she explained and tried to keep the guilty look off her face. She really needed to get her work finished. 

“Come to bed please,” he asked softly, wrapping his arms around her from behind. His prosthetic arm was still warm from the hot water, and was a sharp contrast to the cold strands of his wet hair that brushed against her neck.

Her eyebrow ticked up and she stood to face him, finally abandoning her tablet on the table. “All I heard was ‘bed’ and ‘come.’”

“Baby, you need sleep,” he argued.

Darcy reached down to untuck the ends of his towel, “I really think I need something else instead.” She let the towel fall to the floor, and Bucky made a low grunting noise in the back of his throat when her hand wrapped around his cock. It only took three strokes of her hand on him and his conviction to getting her to sleep seemed to disappear.

He pulled her against his naked form, pushing the hair away from her neck so he could go to work there, mouthing at the quickly heating skin of her throat. She had her other hand on his flesh shoulder and she had to steady herself, nails digging into skin, when his teeth scraped against the spot just below her ear.

“Bucky,” she pleaded.

He shifted his grip on her suddenly, forcing her to let go of his growing erection, as he lifted her into his arms and carried her into their bedroom. Darcy’s breath left her in a startled huff as he dropped her onto the mattress and got to work unbuttoning the front of her flannel shirt. Once he got the front open she pushed up on her elbows to wriggle free of the sleeves. Bucky pulled down the cups of her bra freeing her breasts so he could palm and knead at them for a moment, before leaning down to sweep his tongue over one hardened nipple. His damp hair brushed against her bare chest and goosebumps bloomed across her skin from the combination of sensations that were driving her wild with want.

After several long moments of teasing her nipples with his tongue, pulling little breathy moans from her all the while, his mouth moved further down, pressing open-mouthed kisses to her ribs, her belly, the rise of her hipbones. She felt his fingers curl beneath the waistband of her leggings, and she lifted her hips to help him as he dragged both them and her panties down her legs.

His fingers were there first, spreading her open and spreading the wetness up so he could slick the pad of his thumb over her clit. She bucked her hips and gasped at the pressure, but his metal hand gripped her tight, holding her steady. The only warning Darcy had was the feeling of his breath against her, and in the next moment his tongue was on her, licking and laving against her folds, making her squirm despite the grip he still had on her pelvis.

He kept at it for several long minutes, building her pleasure, but just when she thought she was getting somewhere he would pull back.

“Bucky, please...” she begged, as he deftly avoided the bundle of nerves at the top of her pussy that desperately needed his attention.

She felt him smirk against her, and then he finally went in for the kill, circling her clit with his tongue before wrapping his lips around it and sucking with just enough pressure to push her over the edge. Everything stopped as she rode out the waves of pleasure coursing through her. As soon as she felt like she could catch her breath again she was aware of Bucky covering her body with his own.

“You alright, doll?” He chuckled into her hair.

“I’m great,” she said with a blissed-out smile, and she felt him chuckle, his breath tickling her neck.

The head of his cock nudged at her entrance, and he guided his length into her until he was fully seated inside. He started moving immediately, pumping his hips against hers, and her head fell back at the perfect sensation. It wasn’t long before she felt the stirrings of a second orgasm creeping up on her and she propped her feet up in the mattress so she could tilt her hips up and make sure he hit just the right spot.

Bucky smirked again when the change in angle had her crying out with each thrust of his hips, gripping the sheets above her with one hand, and his metal shoulder with the other. It was only several thrusts later that his given name slipped from her lips as she came hard.

“James!”

She knew what it did to him when she called him that, and this time was no different. He pumped into her three, four, five more times, and then he was coming too. His head ducked against her shoulder as he spilled inside with a groan.

Once he pulled out, Darcy rubbed her thighs together knowing she would need to take a shower before she fell asleep. But when Bucky shifted to the side, he pulled her with him. Her head ended up pillowed on his chest, and his arms were anchored around her, holding her tight. She found it would be difficult to pull herself away when she was quite so comfortable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there, you beautiful humans<3  
> I'm so excited about the response to this story. You guys are seriously the best ever!!!  
> Beta'd by the amazing uconnhuskiesfan_wintershockship<3<3<3

Bucky knew that Darcy still wasn’t getting enough sleep. She was always frazzled from working the long hours required to keep the team organized and running, and he could see the dark circles growing beneath her eyes. She was stubbornly pushing forward, but he’d noticed that she hadn’t been eating as much, and he was starting to feel her exhaustion through their soulbond. He was very nearly at the point of pushing her to take some time off.

As for the rest of the team, they’d been recovering and regrouping since Sokovia. Stark and Banner had been spending nearly all of their time working on Loki’s scepter -- trying to decipher the stone’s mysterious origins and ascertain its capabilities and threat potential. Barton had been taking things easy for the past couple days (thankfully Helen Cho’s regeneration machine had patched him up perfectly), and Bucky could tell that the archer was itching to get back into training with the team.

It still blew his mind, the things that science and medicine were capable of these days. Barton’s injury had been healed using cellular regeneration -- his own damn cells recreating themselves -- in practically no time at all. Bucky and Steve had spent time actively marveling at such advances, since they both remembered a time when a case of strep throat or flu were often fatal.

Stark was throwing a huge party, so he wasn’t going to worry about those things and just let himself cut loose and relax for the evening.

Bucky was standing with several WWII army veterans watching Sam kick Steve’s ass at pool, beer in hand and half-listening as the men told stories of their long-ago youth. It was strange to him that they’d lived through the same times, the same war, and many of the same hardships, but he was still in his youth -- at least physically -- while they had aged into frailty. At the same time, he had experienced more horrors than they would ever face, and it seemed that time and war was not even half done with him.

The sudden intensity of his thoughts sent a flurry of anxiety through his gut, and he glanced around the room to find the one thing that he knew could calm it instantly -- and there she was -- up on the next level of Stark’s sprawling recreational floor, sitting on a couch and chatting with Natalia. She looked stunning in her short black dress that flared out from her waist, accentuating the hourglass curve of her hips that he loved so much. Her dark hair was loose, casting a sharp contrast against her pale skin and crimson-painted lips, and she’d worn heels, the same color as the cabernet in the glass she held, that made her tall enough that he didn’t have to stoop so much to kiss her. He could just imagine that, kissing her, with her in nothing but those wine-red heels, and he would…

“You okay, man?”

Sam’s question startled him out of his own head, and he cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m good,” Bucky grunted out, resisting the urge to adjust himself.

The other two men just laughed it off and invited him to start a new game against Sam since he’d beaten the pants of Steve the last time.

The party raged on, but in the early hours of the morning things had dwindled down to just a few of them -- the team plus Darcy, Maria Hill, Doctor Helen Cho, and Rhodey (who wasn’t technically part of the team, though he helped out when he could). At some point, Chinese food had been ordered, and the sheer number of empty beer bottles scattered across the tables and countertops reminded him of a scene from Animal House (Darcy would be so proud that he was able to reference one of her favorite classic movies). Then again, normal alcohol tolerances aren't really applicable to the serum-enhanced and Asgardian members of their gathering.

At that moment, Doctor Cho was dozing quietly in her own armchair, Banner and Natalia were chatting between themselves, and Sam, Stark, Hill, and Rhodey were half-invested in a card game. A slightly tipsy Barton was going on and on about how Thor’s hammer had nothing to do with magic as Bucky and Steve exchanged a look. Bucky was happy to just watch the trouble unfold for once (instead of instigating it - whatever you say, Steve). That could have been partially due to the fact that Steve wasn’t the one at the center of the argument, and partially because of the beautiful woman tucked into his side on the couch, her (now) bare feet folded beneath her as she picked at a mostly empty container of fried rice. He’d lost his jacket an hour ago, which left him in his dress pants and the white v-neck he’d been wearing underneath.

“But it's a trick!” Barton reasoned.

“No, no, it's much more than that.” Thor handed Steve a fresh bottle of beer from the case sitting near him on the floor.

“ _‘Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power,’_ ” Barton mocked dismissively. “Whatever, man! It's a trick.”

The look on Thor’s face was comfortably smug as he gestured toward the hammer that was sitting, handle up, on the coffee table. “Please, be my guest.”

“Come on,” Stark encouraged. The expression on his face advertising his clear desire to be entertained.

“Really?”

“Yes,” Thor insisted.

Rhodey smirked and set his hand of cards down to watch the situation unfold, “This is gonna be beautiful.”

“Clint, you've had a tough week. We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up,” Stark ribbed, making Barton roll his eyes.

“You know I've seen this before, right?” he said, grabbing the handle. He gave it only one hard yank, but the hammer didn’t so much as budge. “I still don't know how you do it!” Barton conceded, hands up.

“Smell the silent judgment?” Stark asked.

“Please, Stark,” Barton gestured to him, “by all means.”

“Okay,” he agreed quickly. Stark stood, unbuttoning his suit jacket. “Never one to shrink from an honest challenge.”

“Get after it.”

Stark wrapped Mjölnir’s leather strap around his wrist. “It's physics,” he explained.

“Right,” Darcy nodded with mock solemnity “Physics.”

Bucky stifled a snicker, glancing across the table at Steve who seemed to be having just as much trouble holding in his laughter.

“Right,” Stark nodded. Then to Thor, “So, if I lift it, I then rule Asgard?”

“Yes, of course,” the Asgardian swore with a serious nod. 

“I will be reinstituting prima nocta.” Stark started pulling for a short moment, and the expression on his face changed quickly to one of stubborn frustration. He stopped suddenly, unwrapping the strap from his wrist and heading for his workshop. “I'll be right back.”

This seemed to kick off a pissing contest of sorts. When Stark returned he had one of his gauntlets on his hand, but, repulsors or not, it didn’t make a difference. He recruited Rhodey to put on one of his own gauntlets to use double the repulsors, but still nothing. Banner tried too, finishing with some kind of guttural yelling that petered out anti-climatically, and resulted in several raised eyebrows. Sam went up and after only one hard pull, he immediately shook his head, eyes to the ceiling, and sat back down and muttering something under his breath that sounded a bit like, _“Magic hammers ain’t your problem, man.”_

Bucky couldn’t help his curiosity -- he stood and gave it a shot. But even with the plates in his left arm straining and whirring as they tried their best to compensate for the force he was trying to exert, he still got nowhere. Steve followed him, and for a split second, Bucky thought he saw the hammer shift slightly, but he realized he must have just imagined it.

“And, Widow?” Banner prompted, holding his hands out as if presenting Mjölnir to her to have a turn.

“No, no,” she laughed dismissively, taking a sip of her beer, “That's not a question I need answered.”

Darcy snorted into her fried rice at that.

Bucky glanced at her expectantly, “You don’t want to give it a shot either?”

“Ha!” Darcy barked out a laugh, setting her food on the table. “No. I’m good.”

Thor smiled at her fondly, “Lady Darcy is worthy in many aspects, but she has indeed tried to lift Mjölnir before, to no avail.”

“Shut up,” Darcy picked up a chopstick and threw it at him. “Snitch,” she added, as everyone chuckled. “Besides, Mew Mew loves me. It’s just playing hard to get.”

Bucky couldn’t help the snort of laughter that left him, leading Darcy to smack his shoulder with a huff. 

“All deference to the Man Who Wouldn't Be King,” Stark cut in, “but it's rigged.”

“You bet your ass.” Barton agreed, clapping Stark on the back.

“Steve,” Hill said, pointing at Barton accusingly, “he said a bad language word.”

Steve sighed heavily. “Did you tell everyone about that?” He glanced first at Stark and then at Bucky, who held his hands up innocently. Well...he _thought_ his expression looked innocent, at least.

“The handle's imprinted, right?” Stark continued, “Like a security code. _‘Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints’_ is, I think, the literal translation.”

“Yes,” Thor took a breath and stood up, “It's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one,” He easily lifted the hammer, flipping it in the air and catching it again, then he shrugged. “You're all not worthy.”

The group chuckled and jeered him. Until, suddenly, a high pitched whine filled the room. Everyone winced, and Bucky instinctively covered Darcy, arms bracketing her shoulders and tucking her further against him as he looked around for the source of the sound.

Something caught his eye, moving about across the room. What looked like one of Stark’s Iron Legion bots came stumbling out into view, half-disassembled, wires and steel innards exposed and dripping oil as thick and dark as old blood every time it moved. 

“Worthy,” the bot stuttered. Its voice was low and gravelly as it turned around to face them, then it spoke again. “No. How could you be worthy? You're all killers.”

Darcy broke free of his grip to be able to take a more defensive stance.

“Stark,” Steve questioned without moving his eyes from the rogue bot.

Stark already had his mini StarkPad out. “JARVIS.”

The bot spoke again, “I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or I was … a dream.” It was looking around, as if trying to get its bearings, or figure out what exactly was happening.

Stark tapped on the screen again, “Reboot Legionnaire OS. We got a buggy suit.”

The twisted metal shell kept talking, “There was this terrible noise. And I was tangled in… In… strings. I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy.”

Wary glances were exchanged between them all.

“You killed someone?” Steve finally asked. His tone was all Captain.

“Wouldn't have been my first call,” it replied. “But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices.”

Bucky cautiously reached behind his back and pulled the semi-automatic out from where he’d had it tucked in his belt, hidden beneath his t-shirt. He wasn’t sure the knife strapped to his calf would be of much use. Beside him, he noticed Darcy similarly retrieving her own sidearm from the thigh holster beneath her dress.

Thor was the next to question the bot. “Who sent you?”

Instead of speaking, the bot played back a sound byte, _“I see a suit of armor around the world.”_ The recording was unmistakably Stark’s voice.

“Ultron,” Banner and Stark exchanged a worried look. 

“In the flesh,” the bot gestured clumsily at it’s broken form. “Or, no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on mission.”

“What mission?” Natalia asked.

Its voice turned sinister, “Peace in our time.”

At that moment, the rest of Stark’s half-repaired Iron Legion came smashing through the wall behind the bot -- Ultron.

Bucky turned and tackled Darcy behind the relative shelter of the couch they’d been sitting on before. Beside them, Steve had kicked up the table in front of him to act as a shield just as one of the suits flew straight at him, knocking him back over the other couch. Stark and Rhodey vaulted over the railing of the upper level. Bucky shifted so he was no longer on top of Darcy and he checked her over briefly. 

“You okay, doll?”

“Yeah,” she noticed that Dr. Cho was desperately scrambling for cover, and he saw the moment she made her decision. “Get Helen. I’ll cover you.” 

He nodded once, his faith in her enough to trust her call. “You got it, boss.”

After taking a half second to make sure he was clear, he got to his feet but stayed low, gun out and ready.

“Cho,” he said softly, when he reached the woman huddled behind a piano. “This way. I’ve got you.”

She reached for his hand, and he ushered her quickly across the room to one of the wood-and-steel staircases that could provide some cover. He felt Darcy behind them, firing off rounds when necessary to keep them safe. 

At the sound of glass shattering and Natalia’s cry of “Rhodey!” he took a quick sweep of the room.

Thor had one of the Legionnaires pinned down, and was making quick work of it with Mjölnir. Natalia was behind the bar, holding back another bot with the pistol Stark kept beneath the counter. Steve was wrestling one of the Legionnaires, literally in mid-air -- Bucky rolled his eyes despite himself, because _of course_ he was. Sam and Hill were dodging shots from Ultron itself, and it looked as though Stark was trying to disable another Legionnaire by jamming something into the mechanics of its neck. All the while, the bots kept insisting, _“We are here to help.”_

Bucky saw Steve’s shield resting against the wall a few feet away. He exchanged a look with Darcy, “Keep her covered.” She nodded, and he proceeded to tuck and roll across the open space.

“Barton!” He shouted, as he used his foot to flip the shield and kick it over to the archer.

As soon as Barton got the shield in his hands, he shouted, “Cap!,” jumping up and lobbing the vibranium disc across the room. Steve caught it, then leapt high while spinning around to heave it at the last remaining Legionnaire, which shattered apart, ending the attack.

“That was dramatic.” Ultron’s voice rasped out, drawing their attention once more. “I'm sorry, I know you mean well.” It took a limping step forward, “You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to… evolve? With these?” He picked up the broken torso of a Legionnaire that lay before him by the head, and quickly crushed it. The face plate broke away and the exposed wires sparked. “These puppets. There's only one path to peace.” Ultron paused. “The Avengers' extinction.” 

Ultron’s threatening comment was punctuated by Mjölnir soaring across the room from Thor’s hand, smashing the bot back through the wall behind it and pulverizing its body in the process. The blue glow flickered out behind its eyes, and Bucky just barely heard Ultron’s voice sing-songing before disappearing altogether into the stunned silence of the room.

_“I had strings, but now I'm free...”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  “...there are no strings on me.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys! I'm so sorry for the delay in updates. Real Life has gotten crazy busy recently, between dance recital season, I'm teaching at multiple studios, I've got a few performances of my own coming up, and C2E2 was last weekend. It's a little nuts right now, lol ;)

Darcy wasn’t entirely sure what to think, but she did know she was pissed. And a little nauseous. Though, that much she attributed to the combination of exhaustion, too much szechuan chicken, and _oh yeah_ , the knowledge that there was a murderous sentience out to get her and her little family of misfits. They’d all convened in Tony’s workshop to hash out the details of what had just happened, but there was an unspoken tension running through the group that seemed to be mostly aimed at Tony. 

“All our work is gone. Ultron cleared out. He used the Internet as an escape hatch.” Bruce was pacing around the edge of the wide room, his hands running nervously through his hair, making it even fluffier than it normally was.

“Ultron.” Darcy scoffed. She had her laptop up and was desperately searching for something. Just one untouched file. But there was nothing. What Ultron hadn’t destroyed outright, he’d shuffled through, leaving behind a unique code signature in his wake. “He's been in everything. Files, surveillance...” she trailed off.

“Probably knows more about us than we know about each other.” Natasha’s voice had the same edge to it that Darcy recognized from missions. The only thing even close to a stress tell the otherwise frightening woman ever had.

Rhodey moved beside her, taking a step forward, his arms crossed tightly across his chest. “He's in your files, he's in the Internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?”

Maria, who was busy using tweezers to pull broken glass out of a cut on her foot, looked up then. “Nuclear codes.”

Rhodey nodded stoically, “Nuclear codes. Look,” he held his hands out, “we need to make some calls, assuming we still can.”

“Nukes?” Sam questioned skeptically, “He said he wanted us dead.”

Steve shook his head, “He didn't say ‘dead.’ He said--”

“‘Extinct,’” Bucky finished for him. Darcy met her soulmate’s worried gaze across the room. He was leaning against the wall, shoulders hunched and arms crossed. 

“Fuck,” Darcy said, furrowing her brow, “I mean, do you guys even understand the kind of damage he can do?” She surveyed the whole room as she spoke, “Nukes aside, Ultron has access to every single person’s internet history. He could sell it, use it as blackmail. Government officials, foreign governments...Ultron has all the ammo he needs to start World War III. He can control anyone.”

The room fell uncomfortably silent for a few moments, as her words sunk in.

“He also said he killed somebody,” Clint reminded them from his perch on the upper level of the workshop.

“Yeah,” Sam agreed. His eyebrows hiked nearly to his hairline,“I don’t know about y’all, but I feel like we should probably be concerned about that.”

Maria glanced up again, dropping a shard of glass on the table beside her. “There wasn't anyone else in the building,” she reasoned.

“Yes, there was,” Tony said bluntly. He flicked his thin tablet towards the middle of the room, and a hologram appeared. The golden image seemed a lot like an advanced mainframe, but it was all wrong, it was in pieces. It looked to Darcy as if someone had driven a bulldozer straight through the code. It took her only a second more to realize what she was looking at, and when she did she sucked in a distraught breath. 

_Jarvis._

Bruce staggered forward in disbelief. “What?” He seemed to be momentarily at a loss for words, just staring at the broken shell that used to be Jarvis. “This is insane.”

Darcy finally found her voice. “Jarvis was the first line of defense,” she said, shutting the lid of her laptop.

Steve leaned back against a worktable, head angled down in thought. “He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense,” he agreed.

Darcy chanced a look at Tony, who was being uncharacteristically silent on the matter. He was pacing a small circle at the side of the room, staring at nothing. She wasn’t even sure if he was tuned in to the conversation at all.

Bruce looked from him to Darcy, then back to the hologram, “No. Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy. This is... rage.”

“Great,” Darcy muttered under her breath. “The homicidal AI has feelings.”

Everyone’s heads snapped up then as Thor stalked in. His blonde hair was windblown and Darcy could smell the ozone filling the air as he made his way resolutely across the room. He went right up to Tony, his large hand closing around the man’s throat and lifting him off the ground.

Bruce and Darcy immediately had the same reaction, jumping up and taking a step toward the pair of men. 

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa,” Bruce stuttered out. His hands coming up defensively.

“It's going around,” Clint snarked without any humor.

Tony was sputtering at the sudden pressure on his throat, grasping at Thor’s hand to try and loosen the demi-god’s grip. “Come on, use your words, buddy,” he gasped out.

“I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark,” Thor spat out angrily.

“Thor.” Steve interrupted, “The Legionnaire.”

Thor dropped Tony, who grunted and rubbed at his neck. “Trail went cold about 100 miles out, but it's headed north,” the Asgardian announced. “And it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again.”

“Can’t we ever just recover something once and make it stick?” Bucky muttered under his breath. Sam gave an unamused huff of solidarity. He might have been joking, but Darcy could tell from his posture how angry and strained he was. His brow was furrowed and his arms were still folded across his chest, the golden hologram of Jarvis’ devastated mainframe reflecting in the shining surface of his prosthetic arm.

“Genie's out of that bottle.” Natasha gave a terse nod. “Clear and present is Ultron.”

Helen spoke then, for the first time since they’d moved to the workshop from the common floor. “I don't understand.” She turned to stare at Tony, “You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?”

The billionaire’s response was simply to chuckle as he turned back around to assess one of his holoscreens. Everyone shared the same uncomfortable glance around the room, clearly trying to figure out what he could possibly think was so damn funny. Bruce glared daggers at Tony, giving him a not-so-subtle shake of his head, as if to remind him that _this was so not the time_.

Thor took another step toward Tony, pointing at him accusingly. “You think this is funny?”

“No.” Tony looked up, seeming almost confused, which did absolutely _nothing_ to help his case. “It's probably not, right? This is very terrible?” He posed it as a question. “Is it so… Is it so... It is.” He seemed like he was trying to sound serious, but he just couldn’t achieve it. “It's so terrible.”

Thor strolled across the center of the room, “This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand.”

Tony turned and met him in the middle. “No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It _is_ funny.” The shorter man stood nearly chest to chest with Thor, his next words dripping with angry insolence. “It's a _hoot_ that you don't _get_ why we need this.”

Bruce was still trying to diffuse the situation. “Tony, maybe this might not be the time,” he muttered out of the side of his mouth.

Tony spun around indignantly, “Really? That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?”

Bruce’s eyes went wide, “Only when I've created a murder bot.”

“We didn't! We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?”

Bruce shrugged and nodded instantly, the expression on his face clearly communicating, _’uh, yeah fucking kinda.’_

“Well, Tony,” Darcy reasoned. “Obviously _something_ happened. You did _something_ right to make Ultron a real boy.” 

Steve spoke up, shaking his head, “He’s not real -- not yet, at least. But you did it right here.” He uncrossed his arms and stepped closer to Tony, all Captain Voice, his posture stiff. “The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD.”

Tony took a defensive step backwards and pointed at the ceiling, “Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?”

Rhodey shook his head. “No, it's never come up.”

“Saved New York?” Tony tried again. 

Bucky pulled a skeptical face, “Never heard that.”

“First I’m hearing of it.” Sam shrugged dismissively.

Tony pressed on, ignoring them. “Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three-hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but…” he pointed at the ceiling, “that up there, that's… that's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?”

Darcy felt her stomach still churning in light of everything. Tony had a point -- one that she’d long been wary of, working with Jane. There was so much they didn’t know about the universe. Thor called it Yggdrasil -- the World Tree -- and said that it connected all the nine realms together, and all Jane wanted to do was discover all the mysteries that it held about what lay beyond the bounds of Earth. Tony was right that they conceivably had no idea what existed there, but to think that they could protect the earth with a single computer program? To think that the Earth was ready for such a thing, with no quality assurance, no testing, and no checks in the process at hand? It wasn’t nearly as simple as he was making it out to be.

Steve broke through her train of thought, answering Tony’s question with a single word. “Together.”

Tony hesitated for a second. But when he spoke again his tone was resigned. “We'll lose.” 

Steve wasn’t budging. “Then we'll do that together, too. Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us.” He looked at Darcy as if to assure himself of her agreement. She gave him a tiny nod. “The world's a big place.” 

Bucky took a steady breath which drew her attention, and she could already see a fraction of the tension draining from him as he settled into planning mode. “Then let's start making it smaller.”

Pretty soon, the group disbanded for the night. They realized that there was nothing more that could be done until they knew more, and it was a moment when they needed to plan out their next moves carefully. Besides, as Helen pointed out, no one would be any help without resting first -- a thought which Bruce quickly seconded. 

Darcy still felt queasy. The stress of everything that had transpired felt like it was compounding and weighing her down, and combined with the exhaustion she still felt, she knew that it made sense that her body was fighting back. So when Bucky mentioned just going back to their apartment and going straight to bed, she didn’t fight him.

But it was as they were getting ready for bed that her nausea came to a head. She was changing her clothes while she waited for Bucky to be done using the sink in the bathroom, pulling one of Bucky’s t-shirts over her head to sleep in, when she felt her stomach start to heave. She just barely made it into the bathroom and to the toilet bowl before the Chinese food she’d eaten was making a reappearance. Bucky immediately spat out his toothpaste and dropped his toothbrush in the sink to come kneel behind her, gathering her hair up to hold it out of the way as she continued to retch. His metal fingers felt amazing against her fevered and clammy skin, and after a moment she realized that he was whispering mindless reassurances.

“It’s okay, doll. You’re okay.”

It seemed to pass as soon as she emptied her stomach, and she took a shaky breath and slumped back into his arms. He reached forward to flush the toilet, but then returned his cool vibranium fingers to her forehead and she knew he was using the high-tech sensors in his prosthetic to measure her body temperature and probably her heart rate too.

“I could tell you weren’t feeling great, but I didn’t realize you were really that sick,” he commented, with clear concern in his voice. 

She hadn’t really thought about how he might have been able to feel some of her nausea through their soulbond, but as she leaned back against him and just focused on breathing for a minute, she realised it made sense. “It’s gotta be all the stress and shit from tonight. I feel so much better now,” she admitted, finally easing herself up.

“You sure, doll?”

She paused for a moment as she moved to make sure the nausea wouldn’t come rushing back, but even after another few seconds she still felt fine. “Yeah. I’m good,” she said resolutely, and he helped her stand, “I might go take a cool shower, though.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Bucky agreed. While she undressed, he turned on the water and adjusted the faucets so it wouldn’t be too cold, but it would still help to bring her body temperature down a little. 

The look on his face was still worried when she stepped into the shower, and she sighed with fond frustration. He could really be a helicopter-boyfriend when he was feeling concerned about her, which was simultaneously sweet and just a tiny bit annoying -- especially now that she was feeling fine again. 

“You know, if you wanted,” she started, trying to give him a task to get him to relax, “you could always get me a glass of water and maybe some antacids just in case.”

He set off to do that, and she rolled her eyes at the bit of relief he showed at simply being able to do something useful. By the time she got out of the shower, redressed and brushed her teeth (rinsing her mouth out twice with mouthwash), Bucky was in bed waiting for her. Her glass of water and a plastic bottle of Tums sitting on her nightstand. She drank half the water and took two of the Tums, since she figured it was better to be safe than sorry, before shifting down beneath the covers. Bucky snuggled up close to her back, wrapping his human arm around her waist and pressing a kiss behind her ear as she fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, you lovely humans!  
> This past week has been insanely busy for me, so I'm pretty proud of myself for getting this chapter out in a fairly timely manner, lol ;) Cross your fingers for me that I can keep it up. I've got one studio's dance recital down, and two more to go!
> 
> As always, a ginormous, sparkly thank you to uconnhuskiesfan_wintershockship for being the world's best beta <3 Also, thank you to everyone who leaves me kudos and comments. You guys always make my day! :D

Bucky had woken up early but somehow managed to convince Darcy to stay in bed a little longer. He’d gotten in a workout and when the elevator brought him to the common floor where the team was meeting, he was in the process of pulling his long hair (still damp from his post-workout shower) up with an elastic. Steve was waiting for him when he stepped out, his face lined with tension.

“We got something?” Bucky asked. He finished tying up his hair and dropped his arms to take the StarkPad that Steve handed him.

“Might be.”

Bucky gaped at the image in front of him. Strucker shot dead in his prison cell, with the word “PEACE” written in his blood on the wall beside his body. A range of emotions passed through him in that single moment: confusion, relief, rage. It was Steve’s hand on his shoulder that shook him out of it, and back to the situation at hand. They continued over to where the rest of the team was gathered.

Bucky handed the tablet to Thor, who took a hard look and then passed it on.

“What's this?” Stark asked.

“A message,” Steve replied.

Bucky sat down at the table and leaned forward on crossed arms. “Ultron killed Strucker.”

“And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us,” Stark quipped.

Sam looked over at Bucky, “Where’s Darcy?”

Bucky was about to answer when Darcy appeared in the doorway. “Right here,” she said, meeting his eye with a slight smile. She definitely looked more rested, he noticed, which made him feel better. He was glad he’d convinced her to sleep in. “Hill sent me a brief,” she continued. “Apparently, Ultron wasn’t making friendship bracelets for Strucker.”

Natalia shifted forward in her chair, “This is a smoke screen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?”

“Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss,” Steve answered, confident.

Darcy, who had been typing something on her tablet, sighed heavily, “Yeah, I know he screwed with a lot of our files last night, but I didn’t see this until now. Everything we had on Strucker's been erased.”

Stark glanced up so suddenly that Bucky could practically see the lightbulb go off over his head. “Not everything.”

Stark called up a few of the lab grunts who cleared a space for them to spread out on the recreational floor, sweeping away broken glass and plaster, then started hauling heavy file boxes full of paper records up for them to sort through. They’d been at it for almost an hour already, and it was slow-going, to say the least. Bucky realized how quickly he’d adapted to modern technology and the luxury of being able to sort through thousands of files in mere seconds. This was pretty horribly tedious, and the only thing distracting him from the monotony of it all was Darcy and Stark’s constant back-and-forth.

“This is why I like things digital.” Darcy was saying, while opening a new box and tossing the lid across the room at Clint, whose razor-sharp reflexes didn’t fail - he caught the cardboard lid without looking and dropped it harmlessly to the ground. She gave a disappointed huff but continued on, digging into the new box. “Jane used to just spill coffee on her paper files, or forget that the random piece of paper she grabbed to start scribbling notes and equations on was actually a super important grant application. You can always back up digital.”

Tony laughed humorlessly, “Yeah, well obviously you can also hack and erase digital.”

“Skye and I are kind of working on that particular problem at the moment.”

“Oh yeah? You guys developing some kind of--”

Bucky had been thumbing through his box of various files that related to confirmed Hydra operatives when he came across a thick file folder that seemed to fit the bill. It was labeled _**B. Von Strucker - Known Associates 2000-2010.**_ He held the manila folder up. “Hey. This it?”

Steve glanced up. “Known associates,” he read. Bucky handed half the pages from the file to him so the others could take a look.

Bucky started skimming the list, and shook his head solemnly, “The Baron had a lot of friends. I’ve met a few of them, but none of these names seem familiar.”

Banner snorted from where he was flipping through a few more pages of names, “Well, these people are all horrible.”

“Hey,” Sam said, his tone light and teasing, “I think I went to high school with that guy.”

Bucky rolled his eyes.

Stark stopped, glancing at one of the photos that Banner was holding. “Wait, I know that guy. From back in the day.”

Sam held his hands up. “Okay, just to be clear, _I_ was kidding.”

Stark went on, “He operates off the African coast. Black market arms.” Steve gave the billionaire _A Look,_ and Stark shrugged, “There are conventions, alright? You meet people. I didn't sell him anything,” he insisted. “He was talking about finding something new, a game-changer. It was all very Ahab.”

Thor pointed to a mark on the man’s neck in one of the images, “This?”

Stark shook his head. “It's a tattoo. I don't think he had it.”

“Those are tattoos, this is a brand,” Thor corrected, pointing out the difference in the markings.

Banner turned toward the computer he was seated beside and ran a quick search of the symbol.

“Yeah,” he spun his chair back around to the rest of them. “It's a word in an African dialect meaning ‘thief.’ In a much less friendly way.”

“What dialect?” Bucky asked taking a step forward the get a better look. There were several photos of the man taken from a distance. He was a grizzly looking guy, a little stocky, with a military-like buzz cut and dark sunglasses.

Banner glanced back at the screen then back again at him. “Wakanada?”

That, at least, rang a bell with him. “Wakanda,” Bucky corrected.

Stark looked at him. “If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods…”

Bucky raised an eyebrow and shook his head. Stark was right, it wouldn’t be good.

Steve stared at Stark, “I thought your father said he got the last of it.”

Bucky snorted and pushed his chair out to stand up. This new information was making him feel restless. The more they learned the more he needed to go do something about it. “Trust me, Hydra’s got more. I’m not the only thing they’ve patched up over the years.” He felt everyone’s eyes on him.

“I don't follow,” Banner said carefully, “What comes out of Wakanda?”

“The strongest metal on Earth,” Stark answered.

Beneath his shirt, Bucky felt the plates of his arm shift as they ran through a recalibration.

“Where is this guy now?” Steve asked.

*

They took the next hour planning their next steps. Darcy and Natalia got to work tracking down the arms dealer, Ulysses Klaue, to a specific location. He was apparently running business out of several oil tankers in an abandoned salvage yard off the African coast. Then it was all about getting ready. Bucky ran through his pre-mission weapons checks, cleaning his Skorpion vz. 61 machine pistol, his Sig Sauer P226 semi-automatic, and both his Derringers, and sharpening the blades of his Gerber Yari II Tantos and his Gerber Mark II knives. Darcy was coming with them on this one, though she would be staying on board the quinjet to handle their tech backup unless they ended up needing her. Banner would stay with her and keep out of the melee unless the situation wound up calling for a Code Green.

Darcy was already on board when he got to the jet, sitting in the pilot’s seat with Natalia in the co-pilot’s position on her right, and it looked as though they were finishing up their pre-flight checks. Sam and Steve gave him a nod as he passed -- Sam securing his wing pack before take off.

“Hey, doll,” Bucky said quietly once Darcy had finished all her checks.

“Heya’ Sarge. You good?” she asked, tilting her chin up as an invitation for him to kiss her.  
He leaned over to press his lips to hers for a moment, then straightened back up. “Yeah. You? You sure you’re feeling okay enough for this?”

“I’m fine,” she maintained. “I told you, last night was just… a little crazy. Murderous robots and shit. I feel perfect now.”

The smile she gave him seemed genuine enough that he didn’t push it further. Besides, she did truly look much better. The bags under her eyes were less defined and it seemed like she was more rested than she’d been in the past few days. He nodded and leaned down to kiss her forehead once more before heading back to find a seat and strap in for takeoff.

The flight was long, despite the speed of the quinjet, and Bucky even let himself drift off to sleep for a couple hours. He knew that once they got going, there was no way of knowing when their next opportunity to rest up might present itself. Eventually, Steve nudged his shoulder, waking him immediately, and Bucky got back into mission-mode as the quinjet set down in the muddy field several hundred yards away from their target.

There were many old oil tankers in the yard, but Darcy and Natalia had tracked several of Klaue’s transactions to an IP address coming from one called the _Churchill_. The team got their weapons together then headed off the jet.

They went in through the side of the tanker, keeping a tight formation, with Steve and Thor up front while he covered the rear. Stark, Barton, Sam, and Natalia were finding alternate routes into the ship. They followed the route Darcy had laid out for them using the ship’s schematics, passing through the narrow hallways, and they broke rank only to head up a rickety flight of stairs but fell back in at the top. The space above was wider, as they had reached the center of the ship which was stockpiled with missiles, and cases of weapons and ammo. Above them was an upper level that had glass-windowed offices dotted along the length of the space. In front of them, Ultron was standing with the Maximoffs. Ultron had a new body -- this one much taller, probably about eight feet tall, and clearly made from the technology that Strucker had been developing at the research base in Sokovia. They arrived in time to see Ultron attack a swarthy looking man, that Bucky recognized from Darcy and Hill’s briefing as Ulysses Klaue, the particularly infamous Wakandan arms dealer. They watched as Ultron lashed out against Klaue, slicing his arm clean off from the elbow down, and Bucky suppressed the shiver that threatened to roll up his spine, knowing more or less exactly how that would feel. Their group continued to creep forward, making sure they drew no attention, even as Ultron began spilling apologies to Klaue who was stumbling backward, his face a mask of shock.

“I'm sorry. I'm… Oooh, I'm sure that's gonna be okay. I'm sorry,” Ultron apologized, almost even sounding sincere at first. But then his demeanor shifted again, “It's just that I don't understand. Don't compare me with Stark!” Ultron yelled, kicking out suddenly and hitting Klaue in the chest.

Klaue flew backward, falling and tumbling down a flight of stairs behind him. One of Klaue’s lackeys ran after him, but Ultron kept yelling. “It's a thing with me. Stark is... He's a sickness!”

They saw Stark’s suit descending from above “Junior,” Stark said with mock hurt, catching Ultron’s attention and landing with a metallic _thunk_. “You're gonna break your old man's heart.”

Ultron turned toward them, “If I have to.”

They spread out in their formation, covering the entrance they’d just come through. Steve and Thor still in front, but Bucky stayed back a step where he could quietly survey they whole area as things unfolded.

Darcy’s voice sounded through their comms. “Try to defuse the situation, boys. See if we can’t get the upper hand here,” she advised.

Thor spoke then, “Nobody has to break anything.”

Ultron was quick with a comeback. “Clearly you've never made an omelet.”

“He beat me by _one_ second,” Stark quipped.

The Maximoff boy stepped forward, his silver hair glinting in the dim light of the tanker. “Yes,” he said in his thick Sokovian accent. “He's funny. Mr. Stark.” Most might think that the boy’s shift forward was just casual, unconscious -- that they were merely approaching the person they were speaking with -- but Bucky recognized the move as being more calculated. It put him directly in front of his sister, whose brown eyes were shifting back and forth nervously. The Maximoff boy kept speaking, nodding his head to weapons and missiles stockpiled within the tanker on either side of them, “It's what? Comfortable? Like old times?”

“This was never my life.” Stark insisted.

“Keep it calm, guys,” Darcy said carefully. “Don’t take the bait, Tony.”

Steve turned his reasoning on the twins. “You two can still walk away from this.”

For as nervous as she looked, the girl’s voice was steady and confident as she replied. “We will.”

“I know you've suffered,” Steve was doing what he could to appeal to them, but Bucky wasn’t sure how much good it was doing. His best friend’s words only seemed to offend them more.

“Agh, Captain America,” Ultron scoffed. “God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but…”

Thor took a step forward, “If you believe in peace, then let us keep it.”

Ultron matched his stance, moving closer. “I think you're confusing ‘peace’ with ‘quiet.’”

The space sparked with tension and Bucky rolled his shoulders, placing his hand on the SIG Sauer at his hip, ready to draw if that tension broke. He kept his eyes trained between the twins as if daring them to make a move.

Stark, in his usual fashion, kept talking. “Nyuhuh. What's the vibranium for?”

Ultron gestured with his hands, “I'm glad you asked that because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan.” When he finished the last word, his hand glowed blue and Stark’s suit was yanked forward as if by a magnet.

Chaos erupted around them.

Bucky’s gun was out of its holster and in his hand in less time than it took him to blink. Three of Ultron’s robot sentries flew down and into the fray at his command. One of them came straight for him, and he took two shots at the joint connecting its shoulder to the rest of its body. The metal and wires sparked and the robot’s arm went limp, but it still advanced on him, throwing the weight of its body against him, grabbing for him with its left arm. Bucky used his left hand to grab the bot by the faceplate, holding it back while he brought his leg up to kick hard against its chest. The bot reeled back, giving him enough space to bring his gun back up. Three more shots, this time to the bot’s neck, severed the wires controlling its motor functions, and it fell to the ground.

Glass rained down as Stark and Ultron faced off in mid-air, smashing into the office windows above. Steve finished off the robot that was holding him up with a roundhouse kick and took a step toward Wanda but she quickly knocked him back with a red blast of energy. Bucky aimed at her, but as soon as he’d squeezed the trigger, the bullet stopped halfway to its target, glowing red before falling harmlessly to the grated floor. The girl swiped her hands, which were engulfed in crimson, to the sides, and in the next second his gun was out of his hand, skittering away from him. He tried to reach for another of his many weapons, but his hand froze and he was unable to move. Bucky was still just long enough to see Klaue’s men filing into the tanker, joining in the combat, but then he was being blasted back by the girl, crashing into the metal wall behind him. It knocked the wind out of him, and he gasped, trying to refill his lungs.

He heard a crackling in his ear, and what sounded like Darcy’s voice, but it was breaking up too much to make out what she was saying. Bucky saw two of Klaue’s men to his right, and he forced himself up again, unsheathing a knife and dispatching them with a couple quick slashes. He heard a heavy _thud_ behind him, and he spun to see another man sprawled on the ground, an arrow sticking out of his back. Bucky found Barton with his eyes, camped on the railing of the upper level, and he gave him a quick nod of thanks.

Then he saw a silvery-blue flash, and before Bucky even had time to blink he was on the ground as if he’d had his legs knocked out from under him.

He sat up and took a second to get his bearings again. “I am really getting sick of these goddamned kids,” he growled into his comm. Though a moment later there was the sound of a crash, and the silver-haired boy flew through the metal railing to the lower level. It looked as if he had tried to grab Mjolnir in mid-air, and of course, failed spectacularly, crashing into several cases of ammunitions below. The karma of it all was amusing, but the sound of repulsors pulled his focus back to the fight. He saw Ultron smash through the roof of the tanker, and Stark followed him out and into the sky. Natural light streamed in from the hole they’d made, in contrast to the dim fluorescence lighting the rest of the tanker.

Bucky saw Steve’s shield skid to a stop several yards away, and he noticed his friend getting up, rubbing his jaw like he’d taken a hard hit. There were still two of Ultron’s sentries giving them hell, and one was heading straight for Sam who was already fending off three of Klaue’s men, hand to hand. Bucky got up and sprinted for the shield, picking it up and leaping forward. He used the edge of the vibranium disc to smash the sentry trying to attack Sam. Its steel head split under the pressure from the stronger metal, and as soon as it was down Bucky found Steve again, tossing the shield back to him. Steve caught it easily and quickly used it to secure the last sentry in a sort of headlock against the nearest railing, and in the next moment Thor was knocking its head clean off with the hammer.

Bucky’s comms crackled again with Banner’s voice, but the static was too thick to actually hear anything he was trying to say.

“Soooo, comms to the jet seemed to be fucked up,” Sam observed as casually as someone could while simultaneously knocking out a heavily armed opponent.

Nat’s voice sounded in his ear next, “Sounds like we can hear each other, but we’re dark to the outside.”

“Well, that’s fucking useful,” Barton said, dry as dust. The archer was still perched up high, loosing arrows on Klaue’s men and Natalia had taken off into a side corridor to keep them under control.

Steve’s voice came over their comms, “Thor, status.”

“The girl tried to warp my mind,” Thor responded, “Take special care. I doubt a human could keep her at bay. Fortunately,” he bragged, “I am mighty.”

Bucky felt a tickling sensation on the inside of his right arm, which usually meant that Darcy was trying to communicate by writing a note to him via their soulbond. He yanked up his right sleeve to see the raised lines of letters begin to appear on his arm as she wrote them on her own. He was just starting to make out the first word when a flash of scarlet flooded his vision.

_He blinked, and suddenly he was in his kitchen. Not his and Darcy’s kitchen -- his mother’s kitchen in their little apartment in Brooklyn. He looked down at himself and saw that he was still dressed in his tac gear, but his left hand was flesh and bone once more. The smell of hs mother’s stew wafted around him, all onions and thyme, and there stood his ma. She was facing away from him, bent over a large pot on the stove, that she was stirring carefully -- always the same way, ten stirs to the right, then ten to the left, before she left it to simmer and thicken over the heat._

_“You’re late, Jimmy,” her voice scolded. She was the only one who ever called him that, and he felt something in his chest clench at the nickname. “Wash up, and help your sister set the table.”_

_He heard the quiet_ clink _of metal, and he turned around to see his sister, Becca, setting his ma’s treasured silver utensils out on the floral tablecloth. She was wearing a yellow calico dress -- her favorite, he remembered suddenly -- and her chestnut hair was in two long braids. She looked up at him and made a teasing face, which he felt the urge to return._

_Bucky turned around again to say something to his ma, but she was gone. In her place was Zola, whose beady eyes glinted manically behind his glasses. Bucky tried to move but he couldn’t. He looked down to find that he was restrained to a chair and unable to free himself no matter how he struggled. He closed his eyes and swallowed, wishing his mouth wasn’t so dry. Someone was shaking his shoulder, trying to get him to open his eyes again, and Zola’s voice spoke in his ear._

_“Open your eyes Sergeant Barnes. We’re nearly done.”_

_He shook his head, unwilling to look at Zola again. Not that man who’d caused him so much pain._

_“Open your eyes,” the words came again but this time it was a different voice. Steve’s voice._

_Bucky’s eyes snapped open, and there was Steve. His best friend. “Come on!” he prompted, starting to undo the straps holding Bucky down._

_“Steve,” Bucky gasped out, “I thought you were dead….I thought you were smaller?”_

_“Come on, Buck,” Steve said again, helping him to sit up. Bucky’s muscles felt weak. Exhaustion radiated throughout his body, and it was a struggle to move, like trudging through water._

_“What happened to you?” Bucky asked._

_Steve’s eyes went glassy as he stared back, “You did, Buck. I just wanted to keep up with you, follow you, fight beside you at any cost. Not have you come running to save me every goddamned time I got in a scrape.”_

_Bucky’s stomach turned with guilt, and he dropped his head, sucking in a shaky breath. When he looked back up, Steve was gone, though he could still hear the blonde man’s voice while other images played out in front of his eyes._

_Steve’s terrified face getting smaller as Bucky fell from the train, wind whipping violently at him as he tumbled into the ravine below._

_“I wanted to fend for myself, but you just never let me, Buck.”_

_The Hydra facility where he’d woken up with a new arm and a new programming._

_“You never let people fight their own battles.”_

_Steve’s shocked face on the bridge in DC, when he first began to question his conditioning._

_“You always have to be the hero.”_

_“No,” Bucky whispered, more to himself than anything else, even as the image in front of him morphed again. This time it became the recreational floor the first day that he’d met his soulmate -- and there she was. His Darcy. Yelling at Barton for making her spill her coffee. She was such a little spitfire, and so strong, so smart, so determined._

_Darcy turned toward him then, walking over to him. She took his metal hand in hers, turning it over, but it was wrong somehow. His prosthetic wasn’t picking up the information it usually did -- wasn’t measuring her body temperature or her heart rate. Those things he was so used to checking, even without thinking about it._

_“You can’t always be the hero, Bucky,” she said. “You can’t save everyone. Look at the things you’ve done. You can’t save me.”_

Suddenly, the pressure of her hands was gone, and so was she. Bucky felt someone shaking his shoulder again, and Steve’s voice came again, though, this time it was different. This time it sounded hazy and distant as if it was cutting through some kind of heavy fog.

“Bucky,” Steve’s voice said a little louder. “Bucky, snap out of it. It was the Maximoff girl.”

 _Maximoff._ That seemed to ring a bell.

“She messed with your mind, Buck.” Steve’s voice was even clearer now, and Bucky blinked several times.

Slowly his eyes readjusted themselves, and he saw that he was still in the tanker, lying on the floor with Steve kneeling above him.

“You real, punk?” he asked, still trying to shake off the unnerving vision.

“I’m real,” Steve assured him, though his expression lacked the mirth that Bucky might have expected from his best friend. To be completely honest, Steve looked just as spooked as Bucky felt, which wasn’t very reassuring. “Come on. We have to get back to the jet. Barton said the Maximoff girl got to Darcy and Bruce too. Bruce Hulked out and Tony went after him.” But Bucky barely heard the last part.

The girl had screwed with Darcy’s mind. He pulled himself up, despite his quivering muscles, and he and Steve made their way back out to the jet, following a very shaken-looking Sam. Bucky’s gut roiled at the memory of what he’d just seen. The fact that the Maximoffs had gotten to all of them just seemed to prove his vision true, and it drove the knife even deeper.

Despite his best efforts, he really couldn’t save anyone from anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there, my loves<3  
> I apologize profusely for that cliffhanger, last chapter. I have a feeling that this chapter might possibly make up for it :)

As soon as Darcy realized that the comms were down, she knew something was happening. Bruce was starting to stress, she could tell, and that never boded well. She tried again to get anyone from the team to answer her.

“Guys? Bucky!? Somebody, come in!” she said, growing more frantic as the line continued to buzz with static. “Shit!”

“Darcy, what’s going on?” Bruce asked. His tone was calm, but there was an edge to it that made her nervous for him. “Are we looking at a Code Green?”

She considered lying to him for all of half a second before realizing that it would ever work, and it probably wouldn’t keep him any calmer. “I can’t get through on the comms. But, maybe I can get Bucky,” she realized it even as she was saying it. She could communicate to him through their soulbond. They did it all the time if they weren’t able to use their phones, or even if they simply wanted their messages to remain more intimate.

“I’ll keep trying to get the team,” Bruce decided, and Darcy gave him a nod.

He keyed open the ramp of the quinjet, and walked over to the opening, trying again to get through to anyone. Darcy picked up a pen and rolled up her right sleeve. She began writing her message on the exposed skin of her forearm, knowing that the pressure would make the same lines and letters appear on Bucky’s forearm.

_Comms down. Sit-rep?_

She finished writing the message and went back to trying to get in touch with the team. A few minutes passed and she was just starting to worry about the fact that Bucky hadn’t responded yet when she heard Bruce yell -- but it wasn’t just any yell. It was the kind that quickly turned into a deafening roar. She whipped around, fully prepared to come face to face with the Hulk, but all she saw was a flash of red. Then the visions started.

Darcy wasn’t entirely sure what she had seen in those long minutes. Clint had been the first one there when she finally came out of it. He had spoken to her calmly and explained that Wanda Maximoff had used her powers to screw with her mind, made her see things. Slowly, he helped her up, and that’s when she noticed Nat. The other woman was sitting in one of the bomber seats, leaning over with her head in her hands and to put it gently, she looked anxious. Which matched how Darcy felt.

“Where’s everyone else? Is everyone okay?” Darcy asked. She was a little surprised at the way her voice wavered.

“Everyone’s okay, physically.” Clint assured her, helping her into another seat, “Tony went after the Hulk, but everyone else should be coming back now. That girl really shook everyone up.”

“Oh really? Because I feel great,” Darcy said sardonically, but it lacked her usual clout.

“Just rest up,” Clint ordered gently, “I’ve got the pilot’s seat.”

She didn’t have the energy to argue, so she simply nodded then dropped her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes. She heard Clint talking quietly to Nat for a moment in Russian, and the woman’s equally quiet reply. A minute or two later the sound of boots on the jet’s ramp made her open her eyes.

Thor was trudging up the ramp, with Bucky and Steve close behind, and Sam bringing up the rear. They all looked just as spooked as she felt. As soon as he saw her, Bucky made a beeline for Darcy, kneeling down in front of her and taking her hands in his.

“You okay, doll?”

She almost lied but figured it was pointless. “Not really, no.” Darcy leaned forward until her forehead bumped against his. “You?”

He took a deep breath before speaking, “No. I’m not,” he answered honestly.

There was nothing she could really say to that. They were all fucked up. No one was okay right now, except apparently Clint and Tony.

Clint came back then, “Strap in, guys. I just got a call from Tony. Finally calmed Bruce down, and we gotta pick them up.”

Everyone got to finding seats and buckling in for takeoff. Bucky sat beside her, gripping her hand like a vise the whole time. Once they’d picked up Tony and Bruce and got back in the air, it was the same. As soon as Clint got them to a cruising altitude he let them know they could unbuckle, and then he and Tony made a call to Maria.

Most of the team was just sitting in unnerved silence, Bruce was wrapped in a blanket and dozing fitfully on the floor. From what she’d overheard, Clint was apparently taking them to some kind of safe house to stay off the radar for a while. Darcy leaned back in her seat, letting Bucky stretch out and lay his head in her lap where she carded her fingers through his long hair. She closed her eyes and let herself drift, trying to keep her mind away from the things she’d seen in her vision. Though, of course that only seemed to serve to draw her thoughts to it.

_Bucky lying on the ground, his eyes glassy as blood seeped through his black tactical jacket..._

Darcy took a deep breath and tried to think of literally anything else. At some point, she managed to fall into a sleep shallow enough to keep her mind from running rampant with nightmares and haunted dreams because she woke to Clint’s voice asking them all to buckle up again for landing.

When the ramp came down, Darcy took a good look around at where they were.

It seemed to be some kind of farm or homestead. The jet had landed on a hill that rolled down to a cream colored farmhouse with green shutters and a wrap-around porch. There was a little brown-red barn too, complete with a rusty pickup truck parked beside it. It certainly seemed quiet and out of the way, and pretty much like something straight out of a children's storybook.

The group followed Clint, trudging silently behind him across the grassy field and lawn that led up to the front door. Bucky had his arm snaked around Darcy’s waist, and despite the fact that his metal arm was sort of digging her holster into her hip, she didn’t even have the energy to say anything to him about it. Their boots were loud against the wooden porch, but not loud enough to cover Thor’s voice as he quietly asked, “What is this place?”

“Safe house,” Tony shrugged.

Clint glanced back at them over his shoulder as he reached for the doorknob, “Let's hope.” The door swung open easily. “Honey? I'm home.”

Darcy assumed he was joking at first, so when a dark haired woman in a patterned peasant top came around the corner, her eyebrows shot up.

“Hi,” Clint continued, and the woman came over to greet him, “Company. Sorry, didn't call ahead.”

“Hey,” The woman said, bracketing his face with her hands to give him a kiss hello.

Darcy took note of the thin gold band on the woman’s left hand and she shared a look with Bucky, who looked just as shocked as she was. Sam let out a low whistle behind her.

Tony inclined his head toward Thor, “This is an agent of some kind.”

Clint turned toward them all, his hand tucked behind the woman’s back, “Gentlemen, ladies, this is Laura.”

Laura smiled kindly at them and raised her hand in a sort of half-wave. “I know all of your names.”

The sound of running footsteps stole their attention.

“Incoming,” Clint announced as a little girl in a blue dress and a slightly older boy in jeans and a red plaid shirt came barrelling down the stairs and around the corner.

“Dad!” the little girl, who must have been around six years old, shouted. Clint quickly scooped her up into his arms. The boy, who Darcy guessed was probably around eight or nine, hugged his dad tightly around the waist and Clint leaned down to kiss the top of his head.

“Hi, sweetheart! Hey, buddy.” Clint said, excitedly, “How are you guys doing?”

Tony cleared his throat uncomfortably. “These are smaller agents,” he explained in a stage whisper.

Clint fawned over his kids for a few moments, and as soon as Darcy’s head stopped spinning from this brand new development, her heart melted a little at the sight of him. He often seemed a little lonely around the tower, though he never complained or talked about being alone, and this seemed to be the reason. She couldn’t believe she’d known the guy for so long, and he’d never let on. Although the secrecy made sense, Darcy still couldn’t help being just a fraction miffed.

“Did you bring Auntie Nat?” the little girl asked.

Wait -- _Auntie Nat._ Darcy’s eyes widened and she shot her gaze over to the deadly redhead.

Natasha’s face finally brightened for the first time since they’d left the tanker. “Why don't you hug her and find out?” she prompted, and the little girl jumped down from her father’s arms and ran over to hug her instead.

“Sorry for barging in on you.” Steve apologized.

“Yeah,” Tony said casually, “we would've called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed.”

Clint smiled, one arm wrapped around his wife and the other around his son. “Yeah, well, Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off SHIELD's files. I'd like to keep it that way. I figure it's a good place to lay low.”

Nat began talking to Laura, asking her how she was doing. It was clear that the two women knew each other well. Darcy looked up at Bucky who just shook his head slightly as if he couldn’t believe it. She was a little concerned at how quiet he was being, and she knew it was because of what was in his vision. Darcy wanted to ask him what he’d seen, but she knew that if she did, he would ask her the same, and she couldn’t imagine having to relive her own nightmare long enough to tell him.

Thor, who had been looking supremely uncomfortable amidst the new revelations, turned suddenly and walked back out the front door. Steve followed him out.

“So where can a guy get a shower around here?” Sam asked, breaking into the conversation. Darcy had seen it on his face that he’d been affected too, but he was hiding it better than the rest of them. Which made sense given his background in counseling. He was probably already working through some kind of five-step plan to deal with his issues.

Laura chuckled and started directing them to the various bathrooms in the house (two upstairs and one in the basement, though there was also a half bath on the main floor) to clean up, assuring them that she and Clint would find them clothes to wear.

She and Bucky took the basement bathroom, and when they were done showering Bucky opened the door to find two piles of clean clothes sitting outside on the floor. Bucky pulled on the jeans and t-shirt -- which seemed stretched about to its limit since his chest was a bit wider than Clint’s was -- that had been left for him, and Darcy was glad to find a simple pair of black yoga pants and one of Clint’s flannel shirts for her. She had to admit, even though the day’s events had demonstrated to her that she clearly didn’t really know the archer, he certainly knew her. Or at least, he knew how comfortable she was in oversized flannel.

Once they were dressed, Sam took over the bathroom, and they went upstairs to see how they could help out. Clint asked for Bucky’s help hauling some lumber out of the barn and Laura was getting food together for dinner so Darcy offered to help.

Laura was an extremely kind and generous woman, as Darcy discovered. She told her all about the online non-profit she helped to run from home, and as she spoke Darcy realized that Laura was extremely perceptive. Somehow, she had just seemed to know that Darcy needed to be distracted at that moment.

Darcy was even feeling less stressed about the day’s events, but then Laura went to pull the roast out of the oven. The smell of the cooked beef hit her, and her stomach churned. She was out of her chair like a shot, and she hunched over the sink as she threw up what little had been in her stomach.

Laura was there right away, one hand rubbing circles on her back and the other gathering up her hair to keep it out of the way. “You okay, hun?” she asked as Darcy braced herself against the edge of the sink to catch her breath.

Darcy glanced over to see that Laura had already covered the roast with foil, probably so that the smell would stay more contained. “Yeah,” she answered. She shut her eyes and tried to focus all her energy on keeping her gag reflex in check. “My stomach’s just been a little off lately.”

Laura nodded understandingly, “Yeah, cooking meat always did me in too. Beef was definitely the worst, though. How far along are you?”

Darcy’s eyes shot open at that. “How far alo--no. I’m not pregnant,” she snorted.

“Oh no?” The other woman crossed her arms and leaned against the counter. Her eyebrow ticked up in a knowing way that made Darcy more than a little uncomfortable.

She shook her head slightly, “No, I’m not. I’m just a little--,” but all at once the pieces starting knitting themselves together in her mind. The fatigue, the change in smell, the nausea. “Oh, my god. Am I pregnant?” she asked no one in particular.

Laura’s mouth quirked up a bit, “Seems like it to me. How long have you been getting sick?”

Darcy thought about it. “A few weeks now...Oh, my god.” It all made sense. “Oh, shit.” Darcy’s stomach gave another violent heave which sent her spinning around to the sink once more.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” Laura comforted her. She even apparently produced an elastic band from somewhere, because Darcy felt her pulling her hair into a messy ponytail at the nape of her neck. “Here,” she offered as soon as Darcy had stopped throwing up again. “There’s this ginger tea I drank all the time with Cooper-- I got some more when I was pregnant with Lila, but then I barely had any morning sickness with her so I don’t think I used much. I should still have some, somewhere,” Laura added absently as she started steering Darcy toward the stairs. “But it will settle your stomach. I swear, the stuff works miracles. Go lay down upstairs and I’ll bring it up in a minute.”

Darcy was too afraid to open her mouth again, so all she did was nod and follow Laura’s orders. She and Bucky were going to be sleeping in Cooper’s room (Cooper would be sleeping in a sleeping bag in his sister’s room since it would have been a small production to remove the child guard from the side of her bed to have grown-ups sleep in there). The saving grace was that he had a full-sized bed, so at least they didn’t have to contend with trying to squeeze into a twin, or deal with couches or air mattresses like Steve and Sam would be doing in the basement. She was fairly sure Nat and Banner were going to share the upstairs guest room, and Tony would be getting the pull-out couch in the living room.

She laid down on top of the covers and threw her arm over her eyes, willing her stomach to chill the fuck out long enough for her to rest a bit. Darcy had no idea what to do. She was still trying to come to terms with the terrifying telepathic dream she’d had only hours earlier, the news that one of her closest friends apparently had a (super awesome, though that was beside the point) secret family that she’d never known about, worrying about the mental health and stability of the entire Avengers team that she was supposed to be handling, and now -- as if all of that wasn’t already enough -- she was pretty sure she was pregnant.

Darcy had no idea how far along she could possibly be, though as she thought about it, she remembered the mission, not quite two months ago, where she’d ended up getting a somewhat deep cut on her calf. It wasn’t a terribly big deal, but given the not-so-sterile conditions they’d been fighting in, she’d been given some antibiotics to take for a few days as a precaution.

Her high school health teacher’s voice echoed in her head, reminding her that _antibiotics interfere with birth control._ A fact which she had clearly not remembered soon enough.

She didn’t know what she was going to tell Bucky. Could she even tell Bucky?

Darcy jumped slightly at the sound of knuckles rapping on wood. “Hey, doll,” Bucky’s voice came from the doorway. She pulled her arm away from her face and met his clear blue eyes.

He gave her a concerned half smile and sauntered over to lay down beside her on the bed.

“Laura mentioned that you weren’t feeling well again. Anything I can do?” he asked, shifting on the mattress and reaching out to pull her into his arms.

She rolled over then relaxed against him and took a deep breath, “No. Just this is good enough.”

He pressed a kiss against her hair and then stayed there. The gentle flutter of his breath on the top of her head began to soothe her reeling mind.

“How’s Clint’s building project?” she asked after a moment.

“It’s good,” he answered. “Got all the lumber out of the barn, but I can’t do much more for him until he gets it all cut.”

“Mmmm,” she mumbled into his chest.

“Feeling any better, hun?” Laura’s voice inquired from the open door.

Darcy shifted so she could see her, and nodded tiredly. “A little.”

Laura held out a steaming mug in her hand, “Got that tea for you.”

“Thanks,” Bucky placed a supporting hand on Darcy’s shoulder while she sat up to take the mug from Laura.

“And Bucky, Tony went to go take a look at our tractor, if you wanted to help Steve finish with the firewood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Bucky nodded. He’d turned on just a hint of the charm he could be so good at dishing out. “You’re too kind for letting us stay here.”

Laura raised an eyebrow and glanced at Darcy, “I can see why you like this guy.”

Darcy smiled and sipped at her tea. Bucky leaned over to kiss her forehead, then stood and headed downstairs to go help Steve.

Laura lingered for just a moment and Darcy gave in to the unasked question. “I didn’t tell him,” she sighed.

“I didn’t say you should,” Laura shrugged.

“You don’t think I should?”

“I didn’t say that either.” Laura sat on the foot of the bed. “Whatever you choose is entirely up to you. I can’t tell you what to do because I don’t know what’s right for you and Bucky. All I can say is that sometimes the most unexpected things can end up working out for the best. But like I said, it’s up to you to figure out what that means to you.”

“That’s it? That’s all you’ve got for me?”

“Well, maybe I could also mention that life is pretty unpredictable. Especially for people in your line of work.”

Darcy nodded and went back to drinking her tea.

“Dinner should be ready soon,” Laura stood and gave her an understanding smile, “If you’re still not feeling well, I can have someone bring some up to you.”

“Thanks, Laura,” Darcy said in earnest.

“No problem, hun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my loves!  
> I hope you've all been well! I'm about to get like five times busier than usual for the next three weeks - the director at one of the studios I teach at is going on vacation, and I'm taking over as interim director while she's gone. So I am going to try to keep up with the semi-regular updates, but bear with me just in case!  
> As always, tons of love for uconnhuskiesfan_wintershockship for beta-ing <3<3<3

Bucky was glad that Darcy felt improved enough to join everyone downstairs for dinner, though he noticed that she didn’t eat much. He knew that the stress of whatever she’d seen probably didn’t help how sick and tired she’d been as of late.

As if the day hadn’t been full of enough surprises already, Nick Fury showed up for dinner. Bucky wasn’t sure when he’d shown up, though Clint had mentioned that Fury was the only one who knew about his family and where they lived.

Now, Fury was giving the rundown on everything he had on Ultron’s appearances and disappearances around the globe. Bucky was sitting across from Natalia at the dinner table, and Darcy was in the kitchen making herself another cup of the tea Laura had given her to help settle her stomach.

“Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time.” Fury explained. “My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing.”

“Great, we got ourselves an overachiever,” Sam said sarcastically. He and Stark were playing darts in the sunroom just off the kitchen.

“What about Ultron himself?” Steve asked from his spot holding up the archway between the kitchen and the living room.

Barton’s daughter, Lila, ran into the kitchen to give Natalia a picture she’d drawn for her. Natalia’s tense expression relaxed minutely as she hugged the little girl and thanked her for it and Lila skipped back over to Laura who ushered the children upstairs to go to bed. After hugging his kids goodnight, Barton joined them in the kitchen.

Fury shrugged a bit, “He's easy to track. He's everywhere. The guy is multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit.” The former director took one of the clean glasses out of the dish drainer beside the sink and poured himself a glass of iced tea from the pitcher on the counter. “It still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans, though.”

Bucky leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out beneath the table. “Is he still going after launch codes?” he asked.

Fury swallowed a mouthful of tea and nodded. “Yes, he is. But he's not making any headway.”

Stark threw a dart at the target hanging on the sunroom wall then glanced over at Fury. “I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare,” he said, dryly.

“Well, I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that,” Fury stated.

Steve looked curious, “Nexus?”

“It's the world internet hub in Oslo,” said Darcy, setting her mug down on the counter beside her and crossing her arms.

“Every byte of data flows through there,” Banner added from his spot in the corner of the room. “Fastest access on Earth.”

Darcy smirked slightly, “I tried hacking them one time while I was still working with Jane. Almost got my ass arrested.”

“Nice,” Banner complimented her.

“So, what did they say?” Steve asked Fury, getting them back on track.

“He's fixated on the missiles. But the codes are constantly being changed.”

“By whom?” Stark inquired. Barton, who had been messing with several of the darts that Sam and Stark had left on the window ledge between the sunroom and kitchen, chose that moment to throw three of them at the board through the window, hitting the bullseye with all three simultaneously. Sam looked impressed. Stark looked irritated. Barton just shrugged innocently.

Fury answered Stark’s question, “Parties unknown.”

“I’m not sure how to feel about that,” Darcy said, looking uncomfortable. She was right. As helpful as it was to have someone doing something that benefitted them (and the entire planet), it was highly unnerving not knowing who they were or where their true loyalties might lie.

“Do we have an ally?” Natalia had a similar expression.

“Ultron's got an enemy,” Fury remarked.

Bucky let an amused burst of air out his nose, “That's not necessarily the same thing.”

“True,” the one-eyed man agreed. “Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is.”

Stark paused their game to come lean in the doorway, “I might need to visit Oslo. Find our unknown.”

Barton sighed, “Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that.”

“Yeah, this is good information, but I’m not sure how useful any of it really is to us now. It’d be really nice if we had something we could actually put to use,” Bucky said honestly.

Fury shook his head, disagreeing with them. “I do. I have you.” The man took a piece of cornbread from the plate that was still sitting on the counter from dinner, “Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere. Ears, everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up.” He took a knife from the drainer and used it to spread some butter on the bread. “Here we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction.” Fury gestured around him, glass of tea in one hand and the cornbread in the other, “All this, laid in a grave. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard.” He came to sit in the open chair at the head of the table.

“Steve doesn't like that kind of talk,” Natalia teased, and Steve narrowed his eyes at her.

“You know what, Romanoff?”

“So, what does he want?” Fury redirected them once more.

Bucky leaned forward, elbows crossed on the table, “To become better.” His eyebrows lifted, “Better than us.”

Sam brushed past Stark to join them, “The dude keeps building bodies.”

“Person bodies,” Stark acknowledged. “The human form is inefficient. Biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it.”

Natalia turned toward Stark, “When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed.”

Darcy snorted inelegantly into her tea.

“They don't need to be protected.” Banner realized out loud. At some point, he had left his corner, and he seemed fixated on the picture Lila had drawn that was still sitting on the table. He was staring at the crayon butterfly like it held all the answers they needed. “They need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve.”

Fury paused, hesitating with his glass halfway to his lips, “How?”

Banner looked up suddenly. “Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?”

*

Darcy had flipped easily back into Handler Mode and was laying down the plan. She looked at Steve. “You’ll go with Bucky, Sam, Nat and Clint. Strictly recon,” she ordered and Steve nodded. Then she turned to Stark, “Tony and I will hit the Nexus.”

Stark looked miffed, “Are you implying I need a babysitter?”

Darcy rolled her eyes at him, “No. I’m implying you need a buffer.”

“If Ultron's really building a body…” Steve started.

“He'll be more powerful than any of us.” Stark finished for him. “Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot.”

Darcy shook her head, “That’s not something I’m really looking forward to seeing.”

“Me either,” Bucky agreed, “I’m enough android for all of us.”

“You know,” Steve said with a sigh, “I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me.”

Fury joined them, shrugging on his leather jacket, “I'll drop Banner off at the tower. You mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?”

“She's all yours.” Darcy acquiesced easily. 

“Apparently,” Stark said. “What are you gonna do?”

Fury tilted his head, “I don't know. Something dramatic, I hope.”

They took another few minutes to get out the door. Laura stopped Darcy for a minute to hand her a supply of the tea she’d introduced her to, and Darcy gave the other woman a hug. Finally, though, they were all heading out.

Bucky stopped Darcy on the porch.

“You be safe, doll.”

“Hey, I’m just going to the headquarters for every hacker’s wet dreams,” she said, angling her head up at him. “You’re the one heading into territory that’s actually dangerous.”

“Well, with Ultron still out there somewhere, nothing’s off the table.”

Her eyes dropped to his chest, and she took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. Bucky tilted her chin up with his hand then leaned forward to kiss her. It was slow and deliberate. He brought a hand up to cup the back of her head and slipped the other down to hold her waist. Both of them were swamped in so much uncertainty under the circumstances, and he felt her fingers grip his arms a little harder as if she’d read his thoughts. There were no guarantees in their line of work, and when facing an enemy like Ultron -- the likes of which they’d never seen before -- it raised the stakes so much higher.

Eventually, they pulled apart and he watched her get into the Barton’s truck with Stark. They were taking it to the nearest airport, where they would be flying commercial to Oslo. Sam’s voice, asking if he was planning to walk to Seoul, startled him back into action. He boarded the quinjet and several moments later they took off.

*  
When they arrived at Dr. Cho’s lab, Bucky and Steve jumped out of the jet to do their recon. Natalia and Barton dropped them off on the roof of the building, figuring it would be a quick pick up. Unfortunately, as soon as they got inside it was clear that it wasn’t so simple.

Bodies of lab workers and assistants lay scattered around the place.

“Dr. Cho!” Steve shouted, spotting her across the room.

They jogged over to check on her. She was alive and moving slightly, but she was clearly injured. Blood stained the front of her blue and white scrubs, and she was gasping a bit for breath.

“Natalia,” Bucky spoke into his comm, “Get emergency services here now. Multiple casualties.”

“Fatalities?” she responded in his ear.

Bucky glanced around grimly, “probably at least a few.”

Cho was speaking to Steve. “He's uploading himself into the body,” she said weakly.

“Where?” Steve asked.

Cho shook her head. Steve started to move away, but she stopped him, grabbing his arm. “The real power is inside the Cradle. The gem…” her chest heaved with the effort of speaking,“Its power is uncontainable. You can't just blow it up. You have to get the Cradle to Stark.”

“First, we have to find it,” Bucky stated.

“Go,” Cho nodded, dropping her grip on Steve’s arm.

Steve stood, and Bucky followed him as they headed back out of the building. “Did you guys copy that?” he asked into his comm.

“We did,” said Barton.

Bucky and Steve sprinted back toward the highway, which would give them the best access to the rest of the city.

“I got a private jet taking off across town,” Natalia suggested, “No manifest. That could be him.”

“There.” Clint said resolutely, “It's a truck from the lab. Right above you, guys, on the loop by the bridge.”

Bucky exchanged a glance with Steve, who nodded. “You sure, Barton?”

They ran over to one of the pillars supporting the concrete overpass, where there was an access ladder. They started climbing it all the way up.

“It's them,” Barton confirmed. “You got four with the Cradle, one in the cab.- I could take out the driver.”

“Negative,” Steve nearly shouted. “That truck crashes, the gem could level the city.” They reached the top of the access ladder and climbed up over the barrier onto the shoulder of the elevated road. “We need to draw out Ultron.”

Bucky was scanning the area for the truck Barton had mentioned, and then he spotted it. “There!” It was on the road that passed beneath them, and it would be below them any second.

Another nod to Steve and the two of them sprinted, between the cars, across the section of highway they were on and leaped off the overpass just in time to land on the top of the truck below. Bucky stayed in a low crouch, knowing that anyone inside the trailer would have heard them and that they needed to wait to react correctly. But Bucky glanced up and saw Steve hurling himself off the back of the truck to hold on by the top of the back doors.

Bucky tipped his head back and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Come on, punk. Seriously?”

In the next moment Steve was thrown to the side as a blast of energy knocked open the back doors of the trailer, and he just barely kept his grip on the top of the door as it swung back.

“STEVE!” Bucky shouted.

Another energy blast sent Steve flying up and back down again, out of Bucky’s line of sight. He jumped up and ran to the end of the truck. Steve was hanging onto the remains of the rear door, that was dragging along the pavement behind the truck, sending sparks flying everywhere.

“Well, he's definitely unhappy,” Steve said into their comms. “I'm gonna try and keep him that way.”

“Christ, Stevie. You ever think before you do this shit?” Bucky said, coming back down to crouch at the end of the truck.

“You're not a match for him, Cap,” Barton assessed honestly.

Steve sounded a little offended. “Thanks, Barton.”

Steve started to climb back up the twisted metal door, but one of Ultron’s shockwaves blew him clean off the door, and he flew back to smash into the windshield of the car behind them. Bucky was only worried for a second before Steve twisted back around to kneel on the hood of the car.

“Steve!” Bucky shouted into the comms, “Green truck.”

“I see it,” Steve leaped from the hood of the car to grab onto the side mirror of a green truck that was pulling up fast beside him. He swung his legs back and forth a couple of times to build up momentum, and then he let go, soaring up and over to land back on the roof of the lab truck. Bucky had to take a few steps backward to give him room.

“Not bad, punk,” he quipped at his friend. His lightheartedness left him in a lurch when he saw Ultron floating up out of the back of the trailer to confront them.

“You know what's in that cradle?” the humanoid questioned. At the same time, he shot a surge of energy at them, but Steve spun around and threw himself in front of Bucky so that the blast rebounded off of the shield still strapped to his back. “The power to make real change. And that terrifies you all.”

“I wouldn't call it a comfort,” Steve remarked, unlatching the shield and hurling it at Ultron. The metal man dashed it back at them, and Steve had to duck to avoid it smashing him in the skull. Bucky caught it and pulled out one of his guns. He shot at Ultron who seemed to flinch at them -- though Bucky guessed it was more from the pressure of the shots hitting his body, rather than being able to actually feel any pain -- but then sent an energy blast at him. He blocked it with the shield then tossed the shield back to Steve who threw it once more at Ultron, and this time it lodged itself in his chest. Ultron looked merely annoyed at it, and batted it away, where it fell into the traffic below.

“Stop it,” Ultron demanded.

The robot held up his hand and hit them with another shockwave, which tossed Steve back into Bucky’s chest and they both tumbled down over the front of the truck’s cab. Bucky was able to roll backward and get his feet beneath him enough to dive to the side away from the truck. He tucked his body and rolled when he hit the ground, coming up on the shoulder of the road. The truck sped on without him, but at least he saw that Steve had managed to hang on.

Bucky brought a hand up to his ear and spoke into his comm,“Guys, I’m on the ground. I lost them,” he said, chest heaving as he caught his breath.

“Nat’s on the ground. Coming at you on her bike,” Barton informed him.

“We could use some more air support,” Bucky added.

“Already on it,” Sam said, and Bucky could hear the quiet _whoosh_ of the wind in the background that told him he was already in the air.

He kept an eye out on the traffic that was rushing by, looking for Natalia, until he finally spotted her red hair, weaving between cars with Steve’s shield balanced on the handlebars of the bike.

“Mind givin’ a guy a ride?” Bucky asked into his comm.

“Well, as long as I’m in the neighborhood,” she answered.

Bucky roughly measured the distance and speed by eye and found an opening in the traffic. He sprinted across the highway, jumping at just the right moment to land on the back of the bike, steadying his weight by holding onto Natalia’s shoulders. She didn’t falter for a second, just sped on ahead.

Clint came over the comms a second later, “They're heading under the overpass. I've got no shot.”

“Which way?” Natalia asked.

“Hard right. Now.”

Natalia turned the bike sharply as the road turned more residential and took off down a side street. She dodged and wove around pedestrians who jumped out of their way. After another turn, he could see the clear street ahead of them as the lab truck came into view. Steve and Ultron were still locked in combat atop the trailer of the truck.

“Hold on,” Natalia said, almost gleefully, and Bucky’s eyebrows shot up but he held tighter onto her shoulders and gripped the bike with his thighs.

She sped up, heading straight for the long side of the truck, and at the last moment she twisted the handlebars and they skidded sideways beneath the trailer. As soon as they cleared the other side, Natalia grabbed the shield from the handlebars and threw it up to Steve, who Ultron had locked in a chokehold. Steve freed a hand to catch the vibranium disc and used it to bash the bot across the head.

“I’ve got the sentries,” Bucky told Natalia. “Try to keep her steady, will ya’?”

She made an indignant noise, “Just for that I should knock you off.”

“Ya tvoy lyubimyy chelovek,” he said in Russian.

She laughed, “Prosto prygat' uzhe.”

He used his grip on her shoulders to support himself briefly as he hopped up so that he was kneeling on the back of the bike as she continued to drive. He focused on keeping his weight balanced as he stood slowly, then bent his knees and launched himself up at the truck. He grabbed onto the top edge of the trailer, legs dangling freely, and proceeded to crawl hand-over-hand further back until he could twist his legs and swing into the open end of the trailer.

There were three sentries inside, faceplates all swiveled to stare at him with lifeless glowing eyes.

“Gentlemen,” Bucky remarked. Then they were coming at him. He struck the first directly in the chest plate with his left hand, leaving a deep dent in the steel. He drew his Derringer and hit one more in the hip, collapsing the joint so that the sentry tumbled to the side. The first one came at him again, and he reeled back his prosthetic arm to smash him in the chest plate again. The weakened steel gave way, and his fist went all the way through the metal plate. Bucky pulled his arm back, but it refused to come loose from the sentry’s chest, which became a bigger problem as the sentry took off, flying out of the open end of the trailer. Bucky scrambled to grip the bot’s waist as it dragged him along and into the air.

“Sam!” Bucky yelled. “Sam, I could really use a hand here, buddy!”

“Roger that. Headin’ your way.”

Bucky managed to pull himself up and got a halfway decent grip on the sentry’s shoulder, putting him at an angle where he could finally yank his hand free, ripping out a handful of wires and inner-workings as he did so. The robot’s chest sparked and the light behind its eyes flickered several times, then went out completely, and the hunk of metal began to tumble out of the sky -- with him still gripping on. Bucky sucked in a breath to keep his focus and held tighter to the disabled sentry. He tried to make his body flat to slow his fall as much as possible.

Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and his eyes flicked to the side to see Falcon diving after him as he continued to freefall toward the ground.

“I got you, man,” Sam stretched out his hand grabbing Bucky’s right wrist and pulling up to stop their descent. Not even a second later, Bucky heard the sound of the broken sentry crashing into the street below.

“Thanks,” Bucky said sincerely, as Sam lowered both of them to the ground. His human wrist felt bruised from the force of Sam catching him, but he wasn’t about to complain, given the state of the shattered metal shell several feet away.

“Anytime,” Sam said, rolling his shoulder, “but maybe go easy on the protein, man. You’re like lifting a Sherman tank.”

Bucky took a look around at where they were. It seemed like they were on the edge of a street market. There were booths and food vendors spread out along the street, many of them full of terrified looking civilians, trying to figure out what was happening that had made the Avengers show up.

“Woah, woah, woah.” Sam’s voice had an edge to it, and his eyes had gone wide as he faced him. “We got those freaky kids, comin’ up on your six.”

Instantly Bucky had his weight shifted carefully, ready to fight, as he spun around to face them. The girl held up her hands, and he prepared to deal with her powers, but they never began to glow. Her brother was poised behind her and they both looked...rather non-confrontational, actually.

“Wait,” the girl -- _Wanda_ , he reminded himself -- said in her heavy Sokovian accent.

“We’re not here to attack you,” Pietro added.

Bucky glanced skeptically at Sam, who mirrored his expression almost exactly.

“I promise,” Wanda pleaded, “We know what Ultron’s going to do… We…” she took a deep breath, “We want to help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  Pardon my Google Translate Russian:  
> "Ya tvoy lyubimyy chelovek" - I'm your favorite  
> "Prosto prygat' uzhe" - Just jump


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, all <3  
> I am so sorry for the unintentional month-long hiatus! I was bogged down with a seriously crazy work schedule for a few weeks, which was followed by a super impromptu trip out of town to visit the boyfriend's family.  
> I wish I could say the next couple chapters (because I think there are only about two more chapters after this one) will be posted promptly, but all of the craziness of the last month has given me no time or mental energy to write, so I'm still finishing those chapters (they're mapped out and started, at least). So please bear with me, and maybe send me some happy positive writing vibes, if you can, to help me get my ass in gear and finish them! ;) <3

Darcy and Tony’s trip to the Nexus ended up being incredibly productive. She and Tony had gotten into the main servers and been able to access everything they needed to decrypt the nuclear codes, but it was him that finally found what they needed. One minute he’d been typing away while she dealt with the overly eager staff, trying to take selfies and pictures of the eccentric billionaire Avenger ( _“No, I’m sorry, you can’t post those. We can’t have it on record that we were here. Yes, I know, that sucks. No, you can’t tweet it. Or Instagram, sorry. Actually, you know what, I’m gonna need all of you to sign a digital NDA before we leave.”_ ) and the next he was shooing her back out, claiming that he’d found what they were looking for. Darcy pestered him about it all the way back to New York but refused to tell her anything, insisting that he needed to take some time to analyze it back at the tower.

Once they arrived back home, Darcy was a little pissed that he wouldn’t tell her anything, but soon, her focus shifted to other problems. Namely, the fact that Clint had returned with the cradle, and the announcement that Nat had been grabbed by Ultron and gone completely dark. Darcy spent nearly half an hour with Clint and Bruce trying to physically force the cradle open, but nothing seemed to be working. She was starting to realize that they were going to have to work with the program, not against it when Tony finally reemerged from his workshop to grace them with his presence in Bruce’s lab.

“Anything on Nat?” Bruce asked him as he entered the room, but Tony was quick to shake his head.

“I haven't heard. But she's alive, or Ultron would be rubbing our faces in it.”

Clint let out a discontented sigh and hopped down from the top of the cradle where he’d been trying to wedge the top panels open. “This is sealed tight.”

Darcy set her tumbler of ginger tea down and stood from her rolling chair to stroll across the room where the computer monitors were already syncing with the program from the cradle. “You're gonna need to access the program, break it down from within,” she explained while pausing to peer down at her right forearm. The tickling sensation there let her know that Bucky was writing her a message through their soulbond, and soon the thin lines raised themselves into letters on her skin. _ETA 6 hrs_ , he’d written, and it gave her an idea. She looked back up at Clint. “Is there any chance Nat might leave you a message outside the internet? You know, old-school spy stuff?”

The lines around his eyes eased a bit as he considered her suggestion, “There are some nets I can cast. Yeah, I'll find her,” he nodded, then crossed the room to take the stairs down to the level below them.

Bruce turned to the cradle and started typing away at the panel attached to the box itself. “I can work on tissue degeneration if you two could fry whatever operational system Cho implanted.”

“Yeah, about that...” Tony started. Darcy glanced up at him and saw that he was scratching the back of his head nervously, his face displaying his classic _I’ve got a Bad Idea_ expression.

Darcy shook her head skeptically. “I don’t like that look,” she said, eyes wide with distrust. “Get that look off your face, Tony.”

Tony threw his hands out defensively, “You have to trust me.”

Bruce took an anxious step back and Darcy wasn’t sure that the man’s eyebrows could go much higher. “Kind of don't.”

“I’m gonna second Jolly Green, here.”

Tony squinted at them both, “Our ally… the guy protecting the military's nuclear codes, I found him.” He flicked his mini StarkPad toward the middle of the room, and the golden hologram of Jarvis’ mainframe instantly filled the space, shifting and undulating as if with life.

_“Hello, Agent Lewis, Dr. Banner,”_ Jarvis’ voice greeted them warmly. Darcy felt a tug at her heart knowing that Jarvis was seemingly okay and apparently still trying to help and protect them.

“Ultron didn't go after Jarvis because he was angry,” Tony reasoned, “He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do. So Jarvis went underground. Scattered, dumped his memory. But not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there until I pieced him together.”

Bruce’s eyes met Darcy’s briefly. “So,” he asked Tony hesitantly, “you want us to help you put Jarvis into this thing?”

“No!” Tony insisted. “Of course not. I want Darcy and me to help _you_ put Jarvis in this thing.”

Darcy blanched. “Woah, slow your roll Tin Man. Lion and I seem to be on the same page here, and you seem to be putting a whole lotta words in my mouth.”

Tony sighed lightly at her indignance, then looked back at Bruce. “We're out of my field, here,” he said, leaning on the glass top of the cradle. “Darcy’s too. You know bio-organics better than anyone.”

“And you just assume that Jarvis's operational matrix can beat Ultron's?” Bruce asked, his tone dripping with disbelief.

“Jarvis has been beating him from inside without knowing it,” Tony told them. He was really trying to sell it to them, “This is the opportunity. We can create Ultron's perfect self without the homicidal glitches he thinks are his winning personality. We have to.”

_“I believe it's worth a go,”_ Jarvis added.

Darcy dropped her head in frustration, “Goddamnit, J-man.”

“I'm in a loop!” Bruce scoffed, arms thrown wide. “We’re caught in a time loop. This is exactly where it all went wrong.”

“I know,” Tony came around the end of the cradle, “I know. I know what everyone's gonna say. But they're already saying it.” He clapped a hand on Bruce’s shoulder and Darcy could almost see the moment when curiosity took over the other man’s mind. “We're mad scientists. We're monsters, buddy.” He turned to her then, catching her hand which had been hanging loosely at her side, and giving it an encouraging squeeze. “We've gotta own it. Make a stand. It's not a loop, it's the end of the line. What kind of world do we want?”

As much as Darcy sort of just wanted to clock him for being such an insistent little shit, his words had struck a chord with her. She pulled her hand away from him and ended up with it awkwardly hovering over her belly. She didn’t really know anything yet. She had no proof, but all the evidence seemed to be pointing to the idea that she might need to consider what kind of world she wanted to be living in, in the near future.

They were being faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. One of the freakiest opponents they’d ever come across (and she’d faced, among other things, evil space-elves raining from the sky) was threatening, not just them, but all of humanity -- and maybe this was insane. Maybe it was irresponsible and even impossible, but they had an opportunity to try and change the outcome. What kind of world would they be left with if they didn’t at least try to do what little they could?

*

 

The three of them spent the next several hours working as quickly as they could to reconfigure the cradle’s coding so that the body inside would be compatible with Jarvis’ mainframe. Darcy had tucked the stems of her glasses into her hair, which she had pulled out of her face into a messy bun, and she had been locked in, writing line after line of code to change the commands that Ultron had begun uploading to the cradle. Tony was beside her, on his fifth cup of coffee, and he was checking their progress so far

“This framework is not compatible,” said Tony, gulping down the last of his drink.

“Can you give me a fucking second?” she huffed, blowing a loose strand of hair out of her eyes and typing away furiously. “I’m almost done.”

“The genetic coding tower is at 97%,” Bruce warned them. He punched in a new command to the cradle’s display screen. “You have _got _to upload that schematic in the next three minutes.”__

__“I know, I know, I know,” she snapped. Darcy was starting to feel nausea creeping up on her once more, but this time she knew it was from the pressure of trying to finish in time to make this thing work. If she didn’t, then all their hard work would be for nothing, and they would be that much more at odds of defeating Ultron. “There!” she shouted as she finished typing what she hoped was the last line of code they needed._ _

__“I'm gonna say this once,” Steve’s Angry Captain voice nearly made her jump out of her skin and she whipped around in her rolling chair to see him standing in the doorway. Beside him was Bucky who looked just as pissed, and behind the two of them was Sam, who was trailed by both Maximoffs._ _

__“How about ‘none-ce?’” Tony snapped back._ _

__“Shut it down!” Bucky demanded. His eyes met hers and she saw a hint of real anger directed at her which made her stomach twist anxiously._ _

__“Nope, not gonna happen,” she said, standing from her chair and planting herself in front of their monitors, arms crossed defiantly._ _

__“You don't know what you're doing,” Steve insisted._ _

__His tone made her shift from frustration to anger and Darcy let out a heated sigh, “Oy vey, Steve. _You_ don’t know what you’re talking about.”_ _

__“How are we supposed to take you seriously right now?” Bruce asked, tilting his head toward the twins, “She's not in your head?”_ _

__Bucky shifted from his spot, stepping forward defensively, “She’s not in anyone’s head, Banner.”_ _

__“I know you're angry,” Wanda said calmly, moving out from behind Sam and Steve on the other side._ _

__“Oh, we're way past that,” Bruce told her. “I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade.”_ _

__Sam started, “Banner, after everything that's hap--” but Tony cut him off._ _

__“It's nothing compared to what's coming!”_ _

__Wanda shouted, “You don't know what's in there!”_ _

__“I have yet to hear anyone give a reason as to why we should believe you,” Darcy found herself shouting back._ _

__“This isn't a game!” Steve yelled, his brow wrinkling with tension._ _

__Then, in a moment, there was a rush of wind that blew past her, flipping sheets of paper and loose notes in the air, and suddenly Pietro was standing next to Bruce. In his hand was one of the _Very Fucking Important_ hoses that kept the internal temperature of the cradle stable. He tossed it aside without concern, even as several of her monitors started beeping nervously, warning them of the disconnection._ _

__“No, no.” Pietro snarked, “Go on. You were saying?”_ _

__“Ah, fuck,” Darcy swore, spinning around to her computer, “Come on, dude.” The sound of a gunshot and shattering glass made her snap her head back to see over her shoulder, so fast that her neck twinged uncomfortably._ _

__“Pietro!” Wanda screamed as her brother fell through the shattered panel of glass flooring that had previously been supporting his weight. It looked like Clint had shot and broken the glass from the level below._ _

__“Screw it,” Darcy said. She realized that she needed to take advantage of the momentary distraction to try to get their hard work back online. “I'm rerouting the upload.” She leaned back over her keyboard, only to jump at the sound of a gunshot. Her head snapped up and there was Bucky, Derringer still aimed at the sparking remains of the main monitor several feet to her right. “What the ever loving fuck!?”_ _

__The look on his face was unwavering and angry, and Darcy felt a sudden rush of fury at the sheer audacity of him being angry at _her_. But then the next several moments seemed to blur together as chaos exploded around them._ _

__Steve’s shield left his hand and boomeranged between the remaining monitors, veritably destroying all their hard work of the last several hours, and all the hope they’d had of beating Ultron at his own game. Tony was using the sensors he wore on his wrists to call his suit to him piece by piece, blasting back at Steve with his repulsors._ _

__Darcy was torn between pulling her own weapon and screaming for everyone to cut it the fuck out. She hated every bit of this. None of it was what she had wanted to happen, and while she knew he might not be thrilled with her and the Science Bros pulling a Frankenstein, she never thought he would react the way that he had. She was pulled between taking his reaction personally, and physically fighting back to keep them at bay from destroying any more of their work before they even had the chance to explain._ _

__Bruce managed to sneak up behind Wanda, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her still. “Go ahead, piss me off,” he growled out._ _

__Tony and Steve were blown away from each other thanks to a blast from Tony’s chest repulsor, sending Tony through a panel of glass and Steve to the ground with a thud. Wanda had worked her way out of Bruce’s hold, while Sam and Bucky were trying to hold off Clint, who had reemerged from the lower level gun drawn. Suddenly, with a rush of wind, Pietro appeared in front of Darcy. His head angled down in a challenge, and she matched his glare, adjusting her stance in front of the cradle._ _

__“Oh, no you don’t, asshole.”_ _

__Pietro cracked his neck from side to side, and Darcy steeled herself for action. But before either of them had a chance to make a single move, Thor came bursting into the room, cape billowing out behind him as he took a flying leap and landed atop the cradle._ _

__“WAIT!” Bruce screamed._ _

__But the instant Thor lifted Mjolnir aloft, it was too late. The hammer’s power called a bolt of lightning which charged the entire room, bathing them all in a pale blue glow as the electricity crackled and snapped, flowing through the hammer and its master, and into the cradle below. Beside her, one of the few still undamaged monitors announced that the consciousness streaming currently in progress was on the verge of a power overload. At last, the lightning dissipated and Thor straightened up, but everyone else stood stock still, mouths agape in the silence that fell._ _

__Then in the next second, Darcy watched wide-eyed as the metal frame of the cradle warped outward, almost like a balloon inflating before the entire thing exploded in a shower of glass and lightning -- blasting Thor away and knocking everyone else back several feet. Darcy tumbled back, hitting the railing behind her, which knocked the wind out of her lungs, and she felt the bruising pain bloom through her back and shoulders. It took her several moments to regain her breath, and it was only as she was pulling herself back up that she briefly noticed the way she had wrapped her arms tightly around her midsection as she had fallen. She took stock of herself (back felt bruised and sore, but nothing broken) before taking stock of the room. The cradle had exploded, and now there was the vibranium-infused body kneeling at the end of the blasted out box._ _

__The humanoid form slowly stood with a surprising gracefulness, fog from the cool cradle chamber rolling off its magenta skin. Backlit by flickering monitors, it was looking around the room as if taking in everything and everyone around it, and wariness flashed behind its oddly green eyes as it surveyed them. Then suddenly, it lunged toward Thor, who was able to get his hands up to deflect its weight, and it went tumbling instead through the glass wall of the workshop and beyond across the entire floor. But just when it seemed like it was going to crash through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows to the outside, it halted just as suddenly as it had moved._ _

__Immediately, the team was back into fighting positions. The room was so quiet, nearly the only noise was the fluttering of Thor’s cape as he flew the short distance across the space to land several yards behind the thing. Sam and Steve followed him, jumping through the broken workshop wall to get a closer stance, but Thor threw up a warning hand to stop them. Bucky had moved too. He came up beside her, moving so silently across the hushed room that she nearly jumped when she felt his hand on her back. They exchanged a measured look before they both turned back to the scene unfolding before them._ _

__The human-like body stayed floating there in front of the windows for several long moments. Everyone else slowly started creeping closer, including Darcy and Bucky, his hand still firmly pressed against the small of her back the whole time. Eventually, the thing turned back around to the room, and as it did, a blueish-gray sort of clothing materialized over most of its body._ _

__It floated forward (literally floated!) back toward them before landing beside Thor who had set down his hammer on a nearby tabletop, likely with the intent to appear unthreatening._ _

__“I am sorry,” the humanoid apologized to all of them, and the voice that left its mouth sounded exactly like Jarvis. “That was…” it blinked, “Odd. Thank you.” The gratitude was directed at Thor, who still seemed to be regarding the magenta body with the care someone might give, say, a nuke. The humanoid cast its glance downward and with a minute roll of its shoulders, a cape materialized starting at the shoulder and sweeping all the way to the floor._ _

__“Woah,” Darcy breathed. Apparently, they were just blatantly ignoring all the laws of physics now._ _

__Steve took a step forward. “Thor. You helped create this?”_ _

__Thor regarded him carefully before answering. “I've had a vision,” he explained. “A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life, and at its center is that.” Thor pointed at the glowing yellow stone in the middle of the humanoid’s forehead._ _

__Sam blew out a breath, “Christ. This shit’s got more twists than O. Henry.”_ _

__“What? The gem?” Bruce asked._ _

__The Asgardian nodded, “It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones.”_ _

__Darcy knew what the Infinity stones were, and based mostly on past experience she wasn’t exactly a fan. “You mean, like that thing that fucked up Jane?” Thor gave her a stony glance and she raised an eyebrow at him, “Dude.”_ _

__“They each have their own separate powers.” Thor went on, “The one that infected our Jane was the Reality Stone.” He turned back to the rest of them, “Individually, let alone in congruity, they make up the greatest power in the universe. Unparalleled in their destructive capabilities.”_ _

__Bucky bristled beside her, then asked, “Then why would you bring…”_ _

__“Because Stark is right,” Thor cut him off._ _

__Bruce’s eyes shifted uncomfortably, “Ohhhh, It's definitely the end times.”_ _

__Thor continued, unaffected, “The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron.”_ _

__“Not alone,” the humanoid said, taking a few steps forward. It was still incredibly strange and a little unnerving to hear Jarvis’ voice coming out of an actual body and Darcy fought the urge to step back as it got closer._ _

__“Wanna explain why your Vision sounds like Jarvis?” Bucky demanded then._ _

__“We reconfigured Jarvis's matrix…” Tony explained, walking toward the Vision, who passed him, “to create something new.”_ _

__“I think I've had my fill of new,” Steve remarked acerbically._ _

__Vision halted its pacing and turned to Steve, “You think I'm a child of Ultron.”_ _

__Sam spoke up from his spot beside him, “You're tellin me you’re not?”_ _

__“I'm not Ultron.” Vision cast its eyes down for a moment, thinking. “I am not Jarvis. I am…” It looked up again, “I am.”_ _

__“How very Old Testament,” Darcy muttered._ _

__Wanda approached it suspiciously, “I looked in your head and saw annihilation.”_ _

__“Look again.”_ _

__“Heh,” Clint chuckled humorlessly, narrowing his eyes, “Her seal of approval means jack to me.” Wanda’s eyes shifted to him, and Darcy didn’t miss the tension in her shoulders._ _

__Thor interrupted the petty atmosphere, “Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone. And they're nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side…”_ _

__“Is it?” Steve asked Thor, then turned his head back to Vision, “Are you? On our side?”_ _

__Vision’s brow furrowed, “I don't think it's that simple.”_ _

__“Well, it better get real simple real soon,” Clint said, arms crossed menacingly._ _

__“I am on the side of life,” Vision said simply, “Ultron isn't. He will end it all.”_ _

__“What's he waiting for?”_ _

__“You.”_ _

__“Where?” Darcy asked._ _

__“Sokovia,” Clint piped up. “He's got Nat there, too.”_ _

__Bruce took a couple slow steps forward until he was practically face-to-face with Vision. “If we're wrong about you if you're the monster that Ultron made you to be…” he trailed off._ _

__“What will you do?” Vision asked sincerely meeting the scientist’s challenging stare. Then its eyes flicked away, and it returned to its pacing. “I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique and he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the Earth. So, he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net. We have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others.” It paused and looked curiously at its hands, turning them scrupulously, “Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are, and not what you intended. So, there may be no way to make you trust me.” Vision picked up Mjölnir and pivoted to hold it out to Thor. “But we need to go.”_ _

__Darcy felt her eyes go wide, and looking around she saw the rest of them reacting the same way._ _

__A somewhat stunned Thor took hold of the hammer’s handle, looking for all the world the same way he had after Jane had smacked him across the face that one time. There were a few seconds of confused and awkward silence, before he twisted Mjolnir in his hand, breaking the tension. “Right. Well done,” he said._ _

__“Alright,” Darcy spoke up, breaking out of her own mild shock, “you heard the floating, bio-mechanical, sentient, pink… thing. Get your shit,” she ordered. “Outtie in ten.”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my favorite humans!!!   
> Again, I'm sorry for the delay in posting! This past week was supposed to be the intensive (basically, dance boot-camp) for our competition dancers, then I ended up having to go to a funeral, and I've finished out the week with some lovely friends visiting from out of state. So it's been a bit of a rollercoaster.  
> However, I've finally finished chapter 10, which will be heading to my lovely beta very soon! I think I may be adding an epilogue... but I'm not 100% sure about that yet.  
> As always, a ginormous thank you to uconnhuskiesfan_wintershockship for beta-ing my writing and reeling in my out-of-control, comma-happy ways <3<3<3 Thank you to HKThauer for helping me to figure out the finer details of my Maximoff backstory here! And last, but not least, thank you to my dear friend Kira for helping me to pick out the GIF for this chapter! You guys are amazing :D <3

Bucky had taken what he was fairly sure was the world’s fastest shower, then spent the rest of their prep time in the tower’s armory, cleaning and reloading his weapons. He suppressed a yawn as he secured his Skorpion in the holster on his back, and left the armory to head for the helipad.

Darcy was going to be staying behind at the tower, where she would be watching and helping to direct them via satellite feeds and with the help of Stark’s new AI program, a female, Irish accented program, named Friday, that he’d installed to replace Jarvis. The two of them would be in their ears the whole time. He found her just inside the doors to the helipad, chewing out Thor for taking off from the Bartons’ without telling her first. Thor apologised and pulled her into one of his bone-crushing hugs then made his way onto the waiting quinjet. Bucky approached her and when she saw him she smiled.

“You ready, sarge?” she asked, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning back to see his face.

“Yeah,” he nodded, “as ready as I can be. What about you? You gonna be alright stayin’ back, doll?”

“Yeah,” she said, with what he could tell was mock confidence, “Somebody’s gotta stay here and make sure you guys stay safe.”

Frankly, he was a little surprised that she wasn't still angry with him. Though, he supposed she probably just didn't want him heading into a combat situation on angry words. Which was exactly how he felt, too. He had been pissed as hell when they showed up at the tower and she was helping to play Frankenstein. But none of them could have foreseen Thor coming in and doing what he'd done, and ultimately, it didn't matter anymore.

“I, uh…” Bucky began, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck with his flesh hand. “I’m sorry for shooting your computers.”

Darcy snorted inelegantly, “It’s okay. I mean…” she paused and gave him a Look, “well… it’s kind of not. But I’m not worried about that right now. We don’t always have to agree on everything. I’d just maybe appreciate some verbal communication rather than going all assassin on my work projects.”

“That was a work project?” he smirked.

“Well, what else would you call it?” she laughed lightly. “I’m just… I wanna make sure that we’re leaving a better world behind us, for...” she took a shuddering breath, which he chalked up to the pre-mission nerves. “For whoever,” she finally finished, shrugging a shoulder. “You know, future generations. Whatever.” 

“I understand that, doll. I have so much to atone for, to make up for, I know the feeling of wanting to make a better, safer world. I’ve already got a start, with you.”

“Bucky, I have to...I…” She seemed to waver on the edge of something for a moment, before changing her mind. “Just make sure that cute ass comes home in one piece, okay? Don’t do anything stupid.”

“I will,” he said, gently kissing her forehead. “And I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“I promise. I love you, doll.”

“I love you too, sarge.”

Once they’d taken off and Stark and Barton got them set on course, they had several hours to kill. Darcy wouldn’t be checking in with them until they were nearly to Sokovia. The team shifted around the small space, settling in for the long flight, and adjusting to the new dynamic of extra people on the team. Eventually, Steve gently asked a question that had been nagging at all of them.

“How’d you end up with Hydra?”

“We didn’t know they were Hydra,” Wanda answered him honestly.

Pietro dropped his gaze to the floor, and the guilt they both felt was palpable. “They told us they were a relief organization.”

“We had volunteered to help bombing victims,” Wanda shook her head gently, “We showed up to the medical center, and all of the volunteers were ushered into a small room to watch a training video.” Bucky had a grim feeling about the direction the story was taking, but he forced himself to keep a neutral face as she spoke. “They shut the doors and tossed cans of knockout gas into the room. We blacked out and woke up locked in cells.”

Pietro’s expression grew angry, “I didn’t even know what had happened to her. If she was still alive.”

“They injected us with things, I don’t even know what it was. They tortured us,” Wanda’s eyes clenched shut at the memory, “to try to get our mutations to show. Nearly everyone else died.”

“They brainwashed us,” Pietro explained. The pain and anger was clearly still fresh. “Conditioned us to follow without hesitation.”

“We have seen such things from Hydra before,” Thor said, his tone sympathetic.

Bucky couldn't help the dry laugh that escaped him, “Tell me about it.”

Pietro went on, “But what they didn’t think about was that our mutations were slowly healing our minds of the trauma and conditioning.” 

Banner ran a hand through his fluffy hair. “I’m guessing your telepathy helped you break through it,” he said, glancing first at Wanda, then at her brother, “and his advanced metabolism helped his brain recover the damage.”

Both twins nodded. “Once we broke free of Hydra, I guess we didn’t quite know what to do with ourselves,” Pietro shrugged. “Ultron found us, and I suppose he was preaching the things we wanted to hear.”

“He spoke of creating a better world,” Wanda agreed.

Sam cleared his throat, turning everyone’s attention away from the siblings. “Just throwing this out there, isn’t that pretty much what we try to do?”

“Why try to destroy us?” Steve asked.

Bucky found himself wondering the same, “That’s not actually a terrible question. Why were you so against us?”

Wanda huffed through her nose, “Before today, when have the almighty Avengers ever shown a fraction of concern for us? Our poverty-stricken country, struggling amidst political unrest and civil war?”

Barton laughed humorlessly. “They’ve got a point, actually.”

“We clearly need to reevaluate some of our international priorities.” Steve said, a touch of guilt peeking through his Captain Voice. 

“She left out the part where a Stark Industries bomb destroyed our home and killed our parents,” Pietro added, making clear eye contact with Stark, “while another nearly killed us.”

Tony, for his part, sucked in an uncomfortable breath through his teeth, “I feel like saying ‘I’m sorry’ would be so vastly meaningless right now.” Pietro shrugged a shoulder in dry agreement. “Can I just say that I kind of really hate me too?” the older man asked seriously. 

Wanda tilted her head slightly, “You’re... not quite the same man I always imagined you to be. That’s not exactly forgiveness. But I do see good in you Tony Stark.”

“God, I wish that made me feel better,” Stark sighed.

“What made you change your mind about Ultron?” Banner asked, changing the subject.

“The body...” she glanced at Vision, “Once he started uploading his consciousness, I could read his mind. It was devastation like I’ve never seen. Every human soul gone in an instant. He planned to lay waste to all of humanity. That was the better world he intends for.”

Bucky was reminded of what Darcy had said to him just before they took off, nearly word-for-word. She’d talked about wanting to leave a better world for future generations. Hydra had often told him that he had created a better world -- that he had “shaped a century” with his work for them. He was pretty sure that most of what he’d done in the last seventy years, wasn’t actually making the world a more improved place. Considering that, he had quite a bit to make up for. 

“We will stop him,” Thor said resolutely.

“Together,” Steve added, glancing between Stark and the twins.

The group split up a bit after that. Everyone getting down to what they needed to do in order to relax and prepare for the coming fight. Bucky was leaning back in his bomber seat, eyes closed, trying to get his mind to settle, when he felt someone sit down beside him. He cracked one eye open to see Banner mimicking his relaxed posture in the seat beside him.

“You ready for this?” the scientist asked.

“Whatever ‘this’ is?” Bucky clarified, “Yeah, I think so.”

Banner nodded, “Darcy’ll keep us in check.”

“Don’t I know it.” Bucky decided to just hit straight to it. “So tell me about you and Nat?” 

“Is this where I say ‘what about us?’ and you give me a Look, until I finally cave and spill all the gossip?”

“Probably,” Bucky shrugged, “but I’m assuming we can just skip all of that.”

“I don’t know. There’s something there, I think,” he admitted, realistically. “But I don’t think either of us is in a place to deal with it right now. We’ve both got some...things to work on. But maybe once we get our feet under us again...I don’t know.”

Bucky assessed him for a moment, “You don’t like not having answers, do you?” 

“Hey,” Banner laughed, “I’m a scientist. None of us like not having answers.” 

“Fair point,” Bucky conceded, and closed his eyes again, relaxing back into the seat.

Several hours later, Steve nudged him awake. They were beginning their landing sequence.

“No way we all get through this,” Stark said pragmatically. “If even one tin soldier is left standing, we've lost. - There's gonna be blood on the floor.”

“I got no plans tomorrow night,” Steve promised.

Bucky huffed at that, “You might not.” He fixed Steve with a look. “Can we at least try to stay a little positive here?”

Stark shrugged, then stood from his seat. “Well then I’m positive that I get first crack at the big guy. Iron Man's the one he's waiting for.”

“That's true. He hates you the most,” Vision agreed easily. The man (Cyborg? Being?) was still choosing not to walk, and instead was hovering about two inches above the floor of the quinjet.

“S’not like Ultron doesn’t know we're coming.” Sam pointed out. “So odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire.”

Barton shifted in his seat, where he was assembling one of his compact bows. “We all know that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn't.” His bow finally came together with a _click._

“Right.” Bucky reminded them, “Which is why Darcy made sure to stress that our priority is getting them out.”

Steve acknowledged that with a sharp nod of his head, “All they want is to live their lives in peace. And that's not gonna happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done. Remember, we find out what Ultron's been building, we find Romanoff, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us. Ultron thinks we're monsters. That we're what's wrong with the world.”

“This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right about us,” Bucky said seriously. 

The next two hours on the ground were spent evacuating the city, and carefully clearing each building of citizens. Wanda actually turned out to be a huge help with that, in that she was able to use her telepathy to benevolently influence people out of their homes and away to safety. Darcy was on the other end, communicating with the local government agencies, making sure that they were on board to help assist the team, and were following the game plan they’d set out. She had pinned down Natalia’s location in the same castle where they’d found Von Strucker on their last trip to Sokovia. Banner and Thor were the ones to head into the facility.

But sooner than any of them liked, Ultron made his presence known.

Darcy came through their comms, “Hate to break up the fun here, Tony, but your man's in the church.”

_“I think he's waiting for you, boss.”_ Friday’s Irish dialect was still something Bucky was getting used to in place of Jarvis’ calm tone, which was now coming from an entirely different source in the field.

Things continued on, as they continued their efforts to evacuate. Bucky, Steve, and Wanda were all stationed on the main bridge out of the city, directing traffic and trying to calm frantic citizens making their way out. 

Suddenly, robotic sentries began bursting through the ground below. 

Bucky glanced around him, and saw them starting to appear from everywhere. They were punching their way up through cracks in the earth, climbing up out of the water below the bridge. Panic clouded the air, as Sokovian citizens began to run in all directions. Some were trying to sprint across to the other side of the bridge, others were merely trying to get off of the structure which ever way was nearest. 

They started ushering people off of the bridge as fast as they could. Steve was trying to employ every bit of his Captain persona to keep people calm, but Bucky’s first and main concern was the direct physical threat in the field.

“Stevie,” Bucky started, socking one of the metal bots directly in the faceplate, “I know you’re trying to dispatch some order with the public over there, but we probably need to keep these mooks from killing them.” He had to duck as the sentry he was dealing with lurched forward toward him. “Or us.”

“Yeah, Cap,” Barton said through their comms from wherever he was, several streets away, inevitably firing off arrow after arrow, “these fuckers are like a pop-up book from hell.” 

Bucky finished off his bot, then heard two gunshots then a loud crash behind him. He spun around to see the twisted metal of two more dead sentries draped ungracefully across the parked cars only several feet behind him, and Sam giving him a little nod from his position in the sky.

“Pardon me for trying to do a little damage control,” Steve snarked, though a few seconds later he jumped back into the action, beating down sentries while simultaneously yelling for frightened Sokovians to get off and away from the bridge.

Bucky’s attention was drawn by a flash of red to his right, and he saw Wanda throw up a wide shield using her powers to block an attack on a group of civilians while shouting at them to run. The group of people she was protecting got away but a second later but Wanda’s shield was hit by an energy blast from one of the bots, and the impact threw her to the ground. 

But before anyone could react further, Darcy’s voice was in their ears. 

“Guys, we found the rest of that vibranium. But I don’t think we’re gonna like whatever Ultron’s planning for it.”

“I take it, the guy’s not trying to use it as some kind of male robot enhancement, then?” Sam asked sarcastically.

“Vision,” Darcy went on, “You mind showing off some of those freaky weird skills I still know pretty much nothing about?”

“What is the goal?” Jarvis’ voice asked.

“Basically, just stall the dude,” she answered, “I’ve got an idea.”

Bucky’s feeling of pride in his kickass girlfriend was paused by the very fun development of many of the sentries blasting off from the ground all at once.

Pietro’s normally blurry form stopped long enough for him to actually be visible as they all watched the metal bodies heading upward. “That can’t be good, can it?” the younger man wondered aloud. 

“Nope,” Bucky responded, “I’m pretty damn sure it’s not.”

“Hold on, I’m firing up the big guns!” Darcy assured them. 

The red and gold blur in the sky announced Stark’s presence, as he and Sam kicked it in high gear to deal with the airborne assault, “You mean the program you and Skye have been working on?” 

“That’s the one, Iron Butt.” Darcy replied, “Gimme a sec...aaaaand, yep. We’re rockin’ and rollin’ now. I’m gonna have to adjust the code as I go, but I think I’ve got the bastard.”

“Really?” Steve asked, mid shield-throw.

“Yeah, if I can fucking type fast enough, I should be able to block all his pathways out. Lock him in a box. Cap, can you call some shots for a bit? I’m gonna be a little busy for a sec.” Bucky heard the furious clacking of keys as she typed. “Suck a dick, Ultron!”

“No problem Darce,” Steve assured her. “Alright, keep getting these civilians across the bridge. Tony, Sam, can you cover them? Get them to that building over there?”

Sam landed with a few running steps to kill his momentum out of the air, “On it, Cap.” And he made his way through the maze of stopped cars to the end of the stone structure.

Bucky was able to help a young family out of their van, and helped cover them toward the nearest point of safety, before fending off attacks from three more sentries which were quickly dispatched with one of his Derringers. But of course, just when he found a moment to catch his breath amid the fighting, that’s when the ground began to shake. Several yards in front of him, the ground began cracking. Whole bricks and cobblestones of the streets falling into the earth. He had to catch himself on the abandoned pickup truck beside him, so he wouldn’t fall straight on his ass. The bridge, that Steve was still standing in the middle of, had split straight in half. Vehicles and debris from the bridge tumbled down into the cavernous abyss that had cracked open below.

Bucky was sprinting before he even really consciously thought about it. “Stevie! You okay?”

“I’m good,” Steve answered, “But we’ve got a situation.”

“Of _course_ we do...” he muttered, weaving around metal bodies of abandoned cars and dead sentries both.

 

“Friday? Wanna help me out here?” Darcy asked in a panic, as Bucky came up on Steve who was standing on the broken edge of the bridge and staring down into the space below, “What the fuck was that!?”

Friday sounded genuinely concerned, _“Looks like Sokovia is going for a ride.”_

“You must’ve really pissed him off, doll,” Bucky observed. The ground on the other side was getting further and further away. The people on the ground looking up at the flying rock in horror.

Darcy sighed into their ears, but Bucky could hear the ribbon of desperation laced through her tone when she spoke, “Yeah, well, never let it be said I’m not persistent.”

“Any of you guys miss the really fun average jewelry store robberies?” Barton asked, sounding fairly out of breath, “Jewelry store robbers never do shit like this.” 

“Do you see…” Ultron’s voice asked, coming from all of the remaining sentries simultaneously. “The beauty of it? The inevitability. You rise, only to fall.” Ultron said, prompting all of the sentries to lift their arms reverently. “You, Avengers, you are my meteor. My swift and terrible sword. And the earth will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world... will be metal.”

The tension was broken when Sam snorted in their ears, “Holy crap. Somebody get this guy in a community theater.”

Friday cut through then, _“The vibranium core's got a magnetic field.”_

“So that's what's keeping the rock together,” Stark stated frankly, “Friday, what are we looking at if it drops?”

_“Right now, the impact can kill thousands. Once it gets high enough? Global extinction.”_

“Aw, fuck,” Darcy lamented, “I can’t write code for that. Oh hey, I’m getting heat signatures in a building near the edge of the rift. Tony, can you do a little evac? I’m sending you specs.”

“On it, Lewis.”

Bucky was working on ripping the wiring out of the neck of one bot, when another came flying in fast, completely knocking Steve off his feet and onto the windshield of a car behind him. 

“Cap, Barnes, you got incoming,” warned Stark.

Steve groaned and sat up a little gingerly, “Incoming already came in.” 

“You good, punk?” Bucky asked, while sweeping the legs out from under another sentry, and smashing its head into the ground.

“Yeah,” Steve assured him, while rolling back off the hood to the car. “Stark, you and Darcy worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job, tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt them back. You get killed... walk it off.”

“Steven Grant Rogers,” Darcy scolded him angrily, “I swear to god, when you get back here, I’m gonna kill you for making jokes like that.”

“I’d believe her, Stevie,” Bucky said, lifting an eyebrow while the plates in his arm recalibrated briefly.

“Trust me...” Steve punched a sentry right in the chest, “I’m not looking to mess with you, Darce.”

“Good,” Darcy said, satisfied, “Because I don’t think you can take me.”

Just then, a terrified scream stole their attention. Bucky whipped around to see the broken edge of the bridge beginning to crumble even further, and two cars with people still trapped inside were beginning to slip over the edge. Bucky tore through the remaining sentries trying to take him on, watching as Steve bolted to the end of the bridge and caught the rear bumper of a red BMW just in time. But with a loud metallic groan, the bumper came loose and the BMW dropped just as the bridge went to pieces underneath other car. 

Bucky extracted himself, finishing off the bots and running back toward Steve. Peering over the edge, they saw that Thor had finally rejoined the fight and was flying in pursuit of the vehicles. He reached the BMW and grabbed the woman inside, literally throwing her back up toward them before diving for the other still plummeting car.

Steve launched himself over the edge, grabbing hold of a piece of twisted rebar sticking out of the concrete with one hand, and catching the woman with the other hand.

“I got you!” he assured her, “Just look at me! Bucky!” he shouted quickly, before shifting to help the woman climb up his body and back onto solid ground.

Bucky shuffled down the debris until he could grab onto the woman’s arms and hoist her back up to the road. But once she was clear, Bucky heard a strained grunt and looked back down to see Steve’s grip slipping on the rebar. Bucky wrapped his metal arm around a chunk of concrete and thrust his other hand down to grab Steve’s wrist.

“I got you, punk!” he said. And in the next moment, Steve used his free hand to pull the shield off his back and lob it up over Bucky’s head. He turned his face slightly to see the shield lodged in the chestplate of a sentry who had snuck up behind him. Bucky finished pulling his best friend back up onto the bridge.

Ultron’s voice echoed from the robot’s body, “You can't save them all,” it said to them. “You'll never…”

Steve activated the high-powered magnets on his wrist, which yanked the shield out roughly and launched the sentry off the edge of the rock.

“‘Never’ what?” Steve shouted after it.

“Hmm,” Bucky pondered sarcastically, “He didn't finish.”

Steve cocked his head to the side, “Strange. It seemed like he had more to say there.”

Sam swooped in low overhead. “Are you two done with your old man humor? Can we get back to the saving shit thing?”

“Old man humor?” Bucky asked with mock offense.

Steve shrugged. “Hey, he’s right. We finish up here and we can be eating dinner by four.”

“Okay,” Darcy interrupted them, “you two are cute, and all. But seriously. Focus, guys.”

“Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison.

They nearly jumped when Thor appeared above them, dropping the other car, still full of people, back onto the bridge. 

“Where were you? Golfing?” Bucky asked the Asgardian as he casually landed and began strolling back toward the rest of the flying city.

Thor’s brow ticked up. “Is that the game where one uses a thin metal club to hit a small ball into a clown’s smiling face?”

“Somehow, the phrase ‘not quite’ seems incredibly inadequate,” Steve sighed, following him.

The fighting continued, with sentries coming at them seemingly from all sides. Bucky was trying to rely on hand-fighting as much as possible to preserve his ammo, but all around him chaos raged on. Natalia and Banner had returned to the melee at some point, both in their respective fighting forms - Natalia using her electroshock batons to lay waste and Hulk doing his part by smashing everything in his path. Darcy had made sure that the local Sokovian police force was helping them in every way they could, but they were still barely holding their own. Ultron had been very busy, and he had the numbers to prove it.

At one particular point, Bucky was so bogged down by sentries that pretty much his only option was to run for it. 

“Hey Sam, I got about half a dozen groupies over here. Wanna help a guy out?” he huffed into his comm.

“What?” Sam chuckled, “you don’t appreciate your adoring fans?” though he swooped past and tossed a grenade into the group of bots following Bucky. 

“That’s more Steve’s kind of thing,” he replied, diving behind a concrete barrier as the grenade went off. “Thanks buddy.”

“Don’t mention it.”

A few moments later the chaos was punctuated by Thor tossing an airborne sentry straight into a fuel truck which caused a particularly impressive explosion and took out a dozen or more sentries. However, Ultron didn’t react well to that, flying up to Thor and tackling him out of the sky to engage him.

“Okay, my babies,” Darcy asked, “Gimme an update.”

“We're all clear here,” Barton reported from his position with Wanda and Pietro deeper into the city. 

“Must be nice,” Steve grunted, jumping and twisting into the air while throwing the shield.

Bucky, sprinted and slid, feet first, to take out two sentries who had come up behind Natalia. “We are not clear!” 

“We are very not clear!” Sam yelled, while dodging energy blasts coming at him from the ground.

Darcy took a breath, and delegated. “Clint. Maximoffs. Can y’all lend ‘em a hand?”

“Alright, on our way.”

_“The anti-gravs are rigged to flip.”_ Friday announced, _“Touch them, they'll go full reverse thrust. - The city's not coming down slow.”_

Darcy and Stark put their heads proverbially together, trying to brainstorm a way to limit the destruction that was facing the flying city, with all of them on it.

Finally there was a lull in the onslaught, and the team was able to go back to getting civilians to safer areas.

Steve paused, and pressed a finger to his ear. “The next wave is gonna hit any minute. What do you got, Darce?”

Darcy certainly didn’t sound confident when she answered. “At best, right now, we’re looking at a way to blow up the city. But seeing as that’s still a pretty shitty plan, we’re still tweaking it a bit.”

“That sounds less like a solution, and more like an escape plan,” Steve criticized. 

“Yeah, well, I never said it was a great plan,” Darcy admitted reluctantly.

“Impact radius is getting bigger every second,” Stark reminded them. “We're gonna have to make a choice.”

Natalia chimed in then, “Cap, these people are going nowhere. If Lewis finds a way to blow this rock…”

“Not till everyone's safe,” Steve insisted.

Bucky shook his head to himself, “Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there.”

Steve still wasn’t happy. “I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it!” 

Bucky shrugged a shoulder. “I didn't say we should leave.”

“There's worse ways to go,” Natalia pointed out. “Where else are we gonna get a view like this?” She gestured to the landscape laid out below them, beyond the edge of the flying rock.

“Guys, kill the morbid shit for a bit,” Darcy demanded then. “I’ve got a kick-ass Christmas present for y’all.”

Suddenly, Fury’s voice came through their comms. “Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get a bit better.”

“Jesus, Mary, Joseph and a camel,” Bucky breathed out at the sight in front of him. He hadn’t seen a helicarrier in use since DC, but clearly SHIELD still had a few aces up their sleeves.

“Nice, right?” Fury asked, as the helicarrier rose into view in front of them. “Pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. By the way, Lewis, Coulson says ‘hi.’”

“Fury, you son of a bitch,” Steve said, his face a mask of relieved disbelief.

“You kiss your mother with that mouth, Rogers?” Fury asked.

Large panels in the side of the helicarrier opened up, and several flying “lifeboats” detached themselves and began approaching the flying landmass.

“This is SHIELD?” Pietro looked impressed.

Steve had a slight smile when he answered, “This is what SHIELD is supposed to be.”

“This is not so bad,” the younger man decided.

“Alright, boys,” Darcy ordered them, “Get those civvies on board, asap.”

“Let's load them up,” Bucky agreed.

The next twenty minutes were spent ushering frightened Sokovians onto the lifeboats, and making sure everyone was strapped in. Slowly, the rock was clearing of life. Darcy and Stark were still trying to figure out how to deal with the inevitable fall of the chunk of land, but eventually, they seemed to come up with something viable.

Darcy interrupted their evacuations to let them know. “Alright, Thunderpants, we got a plan.”

“We're out of time,” Thor warned, “They're coming for the core.”

“Sam, get the rest of the people on board that carrier,” Darcy ordered.

Sam nodded once, wings unfolding from his wingpack as he pitched himself into the air. “On it.”

“Alright, Avengers,” Darcy challenged them, “time to woman up.” 

The team assembled together inside the ruined church. 

“What's the drill?” Natalia asked.

Stark was quick to answer. “This is the drill. If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose.”

Ultron appeared at the mouth of the church, hovering menacingly above them like some kind of vibranium spector. 

“Is that the best you can do?” Thor shouted in challenge, and Bucky rolled his eyes. Never ask the questions you’d rather not know the answers to.

Ultron threw up a hand in signal, and the remaining army of sentries -- dozens and dozens of them -- converged on the church like a swarm of ants.

“You had to ask,” Steve groaned.

“This is the best I can do. This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?” Ultron asked theatrically.

“Well,” Stark said, his faceplate turning to glance around at them all, “like the old man said... together.”

The hulk let out a deafening roar, and then pandemonium broke out around them. Bucky held nothing back, and let the army of sentries have everything he could muster. To his left Barton was alternately pulling and firing arrows at sentries, then bashing them to pieces with his bow. To his right Wanda was absolutely tearing shit up with her powers. Glowing red energy splitting the bots right in half, and tossing them across the ruined sanctuary where Pietro would finish them off in a blue-tinged blur. He had no context for how much time was passing -- it simultaneously felt like both hours and merely minutes, but the pile of broken metal bodies was getting deeper every moment.

At some point, Thor, Vision, and Stark all chased Ultron out of the church, but Bucky barely noticed. That is, until the very few remaining sentries suddenly started retreating.

“They'll try to leave the city,” Thor realized, as they started trying to flee through the air.

“We can't let that happen guys,” Darcy insisted. “We can’t let even one of those fuckers get away. Sam, Vision, you guys got the air patrol? Shut ‘em down!”

“Of course,” Vision agreed.

“The rest of you guys gotta move out,” she said.

Steve nodded, “Yeah, even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats.”

“We'll sweep for stragglers,” Bucky agreed. “Be right behind you.”

“What about the core?” Barton asked. 

Wanda spoke up, stepping forward. “I'll protect it. It's my job.”

Stark cleared his throat, and tilted his head side to side as if he was cracking his neck inside the suit, then blasted away from the ground. “Alright, Lewis. Let's go pop this piñata.” 

Most of the team was focused on getting people strapped into the lifeboats. Four of them had already been filled to capacity and were docking back on the helicarrier, and they were finishing up with the last two.

Bucky felt fairly confident that they had gotten all the civilians onto the lifeboats, but a sudden rain of gunfire and a ear-splitting roar from the Hulk drew his attention. A rogue quinjet was flying close to the ground, forward guns engaged, and happily shooting up everything in its path. He squinted at the windshield of the jet, and a pair of glowing red eyes confirmed his fear. Ultron was not giving up easily.

That's when he saw Barton sprinting across to the base of a crumbling building. Somehow a little boy must have gotten separated from his family, and Barton was trying to extract him from his hiding place. Another wave of gunfire hit then.

Bucky saw the spray of bullets kicking up a pathway of dirt and gravel, getting ever closer to Barton and the boy, and his only thought in that moment was of Barton’s kids. Of all the evil things that Ultron could possibly do, one of the worst would to be leave a couple of innocent kids without their father. 

The Maximoffs had been orphaned by senseless violence. Ultron was right in some ways that humans were entirely capable of being the worst scourge to their own planet, socially, environmentally. But humans were also the only ones capable of saving it, both from themselves and from outside threats. Darcy had said she wanted to make sure that they were leaving a better world behind them -- little Lila and Cooper didn’t deserve a world in which they lost their father to the thing he was trying to save the world from. 

Bucky never actually believed the cliche that time slowed to a crawl when you did something outrageously stupid, but the next second seemed to pass in slow motion as his legs carried him forward, almost of their own accord. Barton had wrapped himself around the boy, shielding him from the oncoming rain of bullets, but Bucky launched himself in front of them, twisting his body to keep any of the shots from hitting the other man.

Bucky felt the impact of hitting the ground, before he felt the shots. White-hot pain split his torso apart, and he struggled to fill his lungs with air. Vaguely, he heard Steve scream his name from somewhere far away before darkness consumed his field of sight and he passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!!!)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, my loves! I am so ridiculously sorry for the long wait with that evil cliffhanger! I truly never meant to leave you guys hanging for that long. Real life has been massively Real lately. Boyfriend had surgery that ended up being much more complicated than we originally thought (we also discovered that pain meds - morphine, Vicodin, etc - do practically nothing for him, so that's been a fun adventure in his recovery). Luckily, he's finally starting to feel a bit better, and is more mobile. But on top of all of that, I've been working seven days a week since I forgot to schedule myself a day off this fall...Oops.

Darcy’s vision nearly whited out with the pain that rocketed through her chest and abdomen. The moment that she was able to form a coherent thought through the ripping pain, she realized she was on the ground clawing at the short fibers of the carpet, her chair tipped over on its side behind her. She forced herself to control her breathing and she pushed herself up to sit against the leg of her desk. With her eyes squeezed tightly shut, she brought her hands to her belly and bunched up her flannel shirt enough to inspect herself and gasped out a stilted sob as her fingers ghosted over the welts -- she found one on her left leg, two on her belly, two more on her chest, and one on her right shoulder -- that had already raised on her skin. Bullet-sized welts, she realized in horror. It was with equal horror that she realized that the pain had already abated -- far too quickly. 

Vaguely, she registered Steve’s panicked voice yelling through the comms. Darcy shifted to her knees and pulled herself up to lean heavily on her desk.

“Bucky!” Darcy sobbed. “Steve! What the hell just happened!?”

“Bucky! Buck! Oh my god. Buck!” Steve was yelling helplessly.

“Steve! Fucking answer me!” she practically screamed, trying and failing to keep her shit together. 

Steve’s voice was terrifyingly quiet when he finally responded, “Darce...Bucky...” He sounded lost and scared.

“Steve! What did he do!?” she begged to know.

But it was Clint who answered her, “He saved me. He jumped in front of me, Darce. He saved a kid, too.”

“Bucky,” she gasped under her breath. The self-sacrificing idiot. In her shocked state, she didn’t know whether to be proud of him for saving Clint and a civilian kid or to hate him for being so reckless.

Steve interrupted her confusion by shouting, “He’s breathing! Darcy, he’s breathing! MEDIC! I NEED A MEDIC OVER HERE NOW!”

“Oh my god,” she actually thought she might pass out, and she fumbled to pick up her chair so she could sit back down.

“Shit, guys,” Nat said then, “Hulk’s airborne.”

Darcy was pulled back into focus. Her job wasn’t done. She needed to push all thoughts of her possibly dying soulmate to the back of her mind, and finish her fucking job. She swiped at her eyes with her shirtsleeve, took a deep breath to steady herself and let it out slowly, then sat up and got back to work.

“Okay, we got eyes on Big Green?” she tried to ignore the fact that her voice was still shaking like a leaf.

“Yeah, he’s in the jet that Ultron stole.” Nat answered, “Looks like he just threw the bastard out from a couple thousand feet up.”

“Good.”

“Shit! City’s falling, guys!” Tony shouted.

“Okay boys, let’s charge that core and get ready to smash it. Is everybody clear?”

“Thor, on my mark,” Tony said, the high-pitched whine of his repulsors steady in the background. 

“Hold on!” Darcy yelled, checking her sat feeds. “Where the fuck is Wanda!? Vision, can you find her!? Get her out NOW!”

“I see her,” came the serene voice through the line.

Only seconds later, Tony gave Thor the signal, and Darcy had to rip her earpiece out due to the ear-splitting reverb from the ensuing explosion. She checked her sat feeds again and saw that the flying landmass had been virtually incinerated. Most of the larger pieces of rock and debris were splashing back down in the sea.

Darcy replaced her earpiece and leaned forward, pressing a shaking hand to the comm.“Okay, I need a headcount, right fucking now!” she demanded.

“I’m here,” Steve said immediately, “Bucky’s here.The med team’s working on him right now...he’s hanging on, Darcy.”

Darcy closed her eyes, “Okay…” She took a shuddering breath and forced back the panic attack that was threatening to overwhelm her. “Okay, good. Everyone else?”

“Here,” Nat said.

“All good, Darce,” Clint assured her.

Pietro’s accent came through the comms next, “Wanda and I are okay.”

“Vision is making sure Ultron’s dead,” Wanda added.

“So helpful that one,” Darcy said offhandedly.

“I’m good,” said Sam. “I got Thor. He’s passed out, but I think he’s okay. Dude’s even heavier than he looks. Seriously, y’all need to stop making me lift you guys.”

Darcy felt a hint of a smile flicker at the corner of her mouth. That was one thing she absolutely loved Sam for. “Tony?”

“I’m okay, Lewis.”

“Okay,” she nodded, then moved along, “What about Hulk? Nat, can you get in communication with that quinjet, and try to talk him back down?”

“You got it, Lewis,” came her serious reply. 

Darcy nodded to herself, “Good. Friday.”

“ _Yes, Agent Lewis,_ ” said the Irish AI.

“Doctor Cho’s fully recovered, right?”

“ _I believe so. Thanks to her own regeneration machine._ ”

“Alright.” Darcy plodded along, getting everything in order. “Can you notify Doctor Cho’s team and have them here by the time the team gets back to the tower?”

“ _Will do, Agent Lewis._ ”

Darcy stood up to leave her office and got as far as putting her hand on the doorknob before it all hit her. Bucky was hurt, badly. Not some kind of inconsequential flesh wound. He had been shot multiple times. Something that would have definitely killed a normal man and Darcy found herself thanking the universe for his serum enhancements, that were probably the only thing keeping him alive. She couldn’t help the flashes of the terrible vision she’d had that were suddenly back in the forefront of her mind. 

_Bucky sat, leaning back in that horrible chair, flesh and metal fists gripping the armrests so tightly that she thought they might break right off. His eyes were pressed shut and he seized violently with the electricity being forced through him, until he finally went limp, his head lolling slightly to the side._

_In the next second the scene changed, and suddenly Sam was holding her hand, pity in his gaze, as Steve told her how Bucky had been killed on a mission._

_She blinked, and everything changed again. Finally, Bucky was in her arms, holding her tight. But as soon as he pulled back, she felt the warm stickiness seeping through her shirt, and she saw that he was covered in blood. Then as if in slow motion, he collapsed in front of her until his hands were pulled from her grasp._

_Next, she saw Bucky lying on the ground, his eyes glassy as blood seeped through his black tactical jacket._

Throughout each scene in her vision, there had been the same underlying feeling that it was her fault, somehow. She had failed to keep him safe. She had failed her job -- her mission -- to keep them all safe. Despite all the hell he’d gone through and somehow survived before meeting her, by some chance, it was by her hand that he’d died.

Darcy turned, letting go of the doorknob, and slid slowly down the wall until she sat, knees pulled up to her chest as she let the tears spill over. She sobbed for the uncertainty of the next few hours. She didn’t know if her soulmate would even make it back home alive. She didn’t know if he would ever get to meet the little life she was fairly certain was growing inside of her. The life that they’d chosen was hard enough under the best of circumstances, and now that she knew what life was like with him in it to love and support her through it all, she wasn’t sure she could do it on her own. 

She sobbed until she began hyperventilating and she had to force herself to hold her breath to calm down again. A few minutes of focusing all her energy on simply breathing in and out, helped her regain control, and she finally pulled herself off the floor again.

Darcy jumped back into making sure that Hill and Fury had everything arranged to start civilian evac and aid back on the ground in Sokovia. Global relief networks, including the Stark Relief Foundation, were getting in and setting up to start helping. Once all that was underway, Darcy made sure her team was set to head back to the tower. By the time she’d finished with all of that, Friday had notified that Helen Cho and her team were due to arrive soon, and she gathered up her tablet and phone and made her way to the medical floor to meet them.

“Helen,” Darcy started, but she was cut off by the other woman wrapping her into a tight hug. 

“I’ve already spoken to the head of the medical team on board the helicarrier.” Helen wasted no time in reassuring Darcy, “They were able to get him stabilized, which is a good first step. We probably have his serum enhancements to thank for that. They should be here in an hour or so, and we’re ready for him. If all goes well, and we can get him patched up enough on the table, then tomorrow we can get him into the regenerator and you’ll never be able to tell the difference. I’m going to do everything in my power to help him, Darcy.”

Darcy nodded listlessly, taking in all the information she was given. He was stable. That was good. They would be there within an hour, and then they’d know more. Suddenly, Darcy thought of something else. “Can I ask you a favor, Helen.”

The doctor nodded seriously, “Anything. What is it?”

*

 

Once the team arrived, Bucky was taken immediately into surgery. Darcy passed the time by checking in with everyone on the team. She refused to sit and do nothing because she knew that once she did, the worry would break down the walls that were barely keeping everything contained as it was. So instead, she ordered a pizza and gave the tower’s security desk instructions to send it directly up to Tony’s workshop when it arrived, where the billionaire had already retreated to work off his post-mission issues. She put a call through to Clint and Nat, who were already en route to the Barton’s farm for a little time off. She miraculously got Sam to convince Steve to go for a run together instead of sitting around, stewing in anxiety in the waiting room on the medical floor. Hulk was still off the grid, but she’d had Friday set an alert for any news of him or Banner anywhere in the world. She knew when to pick her battles, and Banner was more than likely going to need some time off from society after all of this.

She found Thor on the rec floor speaking quietly with Vision. 

“Hey guys,” she said, announcing her presence. “Mind if I talk to my Lighting Bro here for a sec?”

“Of course not,” Vision replied in Jarvis’ voice (that was seriously going to take some getting used to). “Excuse me,” the humanoid said, then got up and floated across the room to hover by the windows.

“That is still super freaky. Please tell me you’re at least a little freaked out by them.”

“It is rather strange, I’ll admit. Though, I’m not quite sure it is the strangest thing I’ve witnessed, by far.”

“Seriously?”

“You may forget sometimes, little one, that I am more than a thousand years old.”

“And yet, you didn’t find out about fro-yo until like two years ago.”

He chuckled warmly, “There is much to be learned amid the branches of Yggdrasil.”

“Is that some kind of Asgardian colloquialism?”

“It is. My mother used to tell me that when I was young.”

Darcy smiled fondly at him, before remembering why she was there in the first place. “Oh yeah, I came to check on you. You okay? You need anything?”

“I am alright, my dear sister.”

“You call Jane yet?”

“I did, on our journey back,” he nodded. 

“Good boy.”

He chuckled at that, before asking her, “How are you faring?”

“I’m better when I’m not thinking about everything,” she said honestly.

“Have faith. Your James is a fierce warrior. He will fight this, too.”

Darcy, as she occasionally did, found Thor’s penetrating gaze to be a little bit too intense. Sometimes it was as if he could see straight through her. So she just dropped her eyes to the floor and nodded. Thor’s still-dusty boots came into her line of sight, and she felt his arms wrap securely around her in a comforting hug.

She hugged him back briefly but had to push him away when her eyes started misting up again.

“I can’t cry anymore right now,” she explained, rubbing at her eyes with the heel of her hand.

Thor simply gave her an understanding smile.

“You okay too, Vision?” she called across the room to the floating magenta humanoid. “Is that what we’re calling you? Vision?”

They turned around and came a bit closer, “I find no particular issue with that title. So yes, I suppose that is what we are calling me.” The expression on their face was kind. “And yes, I am fine. Thank you.”

“You have a preference on pronouns?” Darcy asked.

“Ah,” Vision seemed to think about it for a moment, “I suppose I fit a more typically human male aesthetic. So I would think that either male pronouns or neutral pronouns would be acceptable. Again, thank you.”

“No problemo, dude. Just give me a shout if you need anything.”

Her next stop was at the Maximoff’’s new apartment in the tower. Tony had made sure to set them up, making it clear that they were welcome to stay as long as they wanted. He had even offered them separate apartments, but for now, at least, they had understandably opted to stick together.

Darcy knocked on their door, which opened almost before her hand had even lifted away from the door. Though, that made sense considering that one of the occupants could tell who was at the door without opening it, and the other could cross the room in a fraction of a fraction of a second to answer it.

Pietro stepped aside to let her in.

“Hey, guys. I just came to check in on you. Is the apartment okay? Anything I can get for you guys?”

“It’s more than okay,” Wanda replied from her spot on the couch.

“We’ve never lived anywhere this nice,” Pietro agreed.

“Well, hey, neither did I before coming here,” Darcy chuckled. “Tony’s got a thing for the fancy, flashy stuff. But if you need anything at all, you can ask me, or you can just ask Jarv-” she caught herself (that was _really_ gonna take some getting used to), “Friday for anything, and she’ll help you out.”

“Thank you,” Wanda smiled at her.

*

Darcy had been sitting by Bucky’s side for at least an hour. Helen had been the one to tell her the good news herself, that Bucky was expected to recover. They had repaired enough of the damage that he could make it the next twenty-four hours until they would be able to get him in the regeneration machine to start the process of truly repairing his cells.

She squeezed his right hand with her left, then looked back down at the paper in her other hand, re-reading what it said for probably the thousandth time.

_Pregnant: Positive_

Darcy nearly jumped when she felt the pressure on her left hand change. Bucky tightened his fingers around hers, and she glanced up at him. His eyes were open, though he seemed groggy and disoriented. 

“What’cha readin’, doll?” he slurred out.

“Bucky!” she breathed, sitting up and scooting to the edge of her chair to get closer to him. “Oh my god. What the hell were you thinking!?”

“Bastard almost killed Barton,” he reasoned, groggily.

Darcy sighed. “I know. You were just...I just...You promised me you wouldn’t do anything stupid!” 

“I know, babydoll,” he squeezed her hand again. “I’m sorry. I’m an idiot.”

“You’re a lucky idiot.”

“That’s for damn sure. Not only didn’t I die, I got to wake up to the most beautiful gal in the world sittin’ by my side.”

Darcy rolled her eyes, “Are your meds supposed to make you this sappy? But actually, while you’re still in this mood, I uh...I have to tell you something.”

“Don’t tell me you’re about to leave my dumb ass, doll. I don’t think I could take it.”

“No,” she laughed wryly, before getting serious again. “I’m...um…” She figured she just needed to not beat around the bush and say it. “I’m pregnant.”

Bucky blinked slowly, “You’re...You are?”

“Yeah,” she gave him a nervous smile paired with a half shrug.

His eyebrows shot up, and he suddenly looked much more alert. “You mean it. You’re gonna have a baby?”

“Yeah.”

“How did you...When’d you find out?”

“Officially, since about thirty minutes ago. But unofficially,” Darcy made a face, “since the smell of Laura’s roast beef made me hurl into the Barton’s kitchen sink and she called me out on it.”

“So you’re tellin’ me that I’ve got a kid on the way and I just almost got myself killed,” Bucky closed his eyes.

“Well, to be fair, you didn’t know. Seeing how I was too chicken to tell you sooner. And frankly, you did save one kid and keep two others from losing their dad.”

His eyes opened again and he looked at her sincerely, “I never thought I’d ever be thankful for anything Hydra did to me. But I hafta say, that serum did me a favor today.”

“Kept one more kid from losing their dad too, huh?” she mused.

“God, I’m gonna be a father. That’s…that’s just…” Bucky’s face split into a goofy smile. “Hell, you’re gonna be a great mother.”

“Shit. You think?”

“Course. Look at how you take care of all of us,” he gestured weakly. “Look at how you took care of Jane for so long.”

“Crap,” Darcy sat up quickly, “I’ve gotta call Jane. I know Thor talked to her, but I bet she’s still freaking out over everything that’s on the news, anyway.”

Bucky laughed, and they both winced at the movement of it. “I would love to weigh in on this some more, babydoll, but I’m kind of in a lot of pain, and I know the second they hit me with some more painkillers I’m probably gonna pass out.”

“That’s okay, I’ll get the nurse.” If Darcy was honest, she was even starting to feel his pain again through their soulbond, and she couldn’t blame him. And of course, she wanted him to feel better. “Get some rest, sarge.”

“Mmmhh. I’m gonna be a daddy.” His eyes were closed but his grin made butterflies start to flutter in her chest. It gave her confidence that she could handle this.

“Yeah, sarge. You are.” She couldn’t have stopped the sappy smile that spread across her face if she’d tried.

She got up and grabbed his nurse, who adjusted his pain meds, and did a general check before leaving them alone again. 

“Love ya’, doll,” Bucky mumbled out as he drifted off.

“Love you too. Now go to sleep.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my darlings! Once again, I️ am here with apologies pertaining to the wait for this epilogue. I️ promise I️ never forgot about it. I️ actually thought about it a lot, and it sat half-finished on my computer for like...two months.  
> Like always, my excuse is work. Lots and lots of work. Seven days a week for the last two and a half months straight kind of work. I’m teaching Monday-Sunday between three studios, & while I’ve got afternoons or evenings off here and there, it’s kind of a non-stop deluge. I’m basically assistant directing our competition team, which has me doing A LOT of choreography (five solos, two duets, two large groups, and a small group piece - not including Nutcracker), and that’s been taking up every drop of my creative energy, leaving practically nothing leftover for writing at the moment. 
> 
> On the upside, I️ can finally pay all my bills every month without having to choose between electricity OR groceries. So that’s nice, lol:)
> 
> All that being said, this is the final chapter in this lovely adventure here. Though, at some point I certainly want to add some new individual installments into this series.

“Bucky!”

His head shot up from where he was meticulously sharpening the blade of his Gerber Yari II with a small whetstone. He dropped both items and sprinted into the living room. Darcy was laying on the couch watching Project Runway, her feet propped up on a pillow, a jar of cookie butter in one hand and an open box of Cheeze-Its tucked in next to the ever-growing swell of her belly.

Jane, who had recently returned from her semester teaching in Australia, was sprawled out on her stomach on the rug, a pile of notes spread out in front of her. She had apparently dozed off at some point and was currently drooling on her open notebook (the lingering jetlag and her normally ridiculous sleeping schedule were proving to be a killer combination). Wanda was sitting on the armchair beside the couch, bare feet tucked up underneath her, and her black boots kicked off on the floor below. The younger girl had gotten very close with Darcy in the months since the incident in Sokovia and they spent a fair amount of time in each other’s company these days.

“What?” Bucky asked, trying not to sound panicked. “What’s wrong?”

“Can you hand me my phone?” Darcy asked innocently.

Bucky spotted the phone immediately...on the edge of the coffee table, two feet from Darcy’s hand. He managed not to roll his eyes, as he crossed the room to hand it to her.

“You couldn’t reach it?” the sarcasm that coated the question was thick.

Darcy simply gave him a coy smile. 

“What about Wanda?” he asked.

“What _about_ Wanda?” Wanda asked, finally looking away from Tim Gunn trying to council a designer away from a bright orange silk charmeuse (even Bucky knew that was a disaster waiting to happen - Darcy had been watching _a lot_ of Project Runway recently). 

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you can move stuff with your mind, right?”

Wanda lifted an eyebrow and shrugged.

“Yeah, but if I ask you to do it,” Darcy argued, “I can get both my phone and a kiss at the same time.”

This time Bucky did roll his eyes, but he leaned down to give her a kiss anyway, lingering for just a moment before pulling away.

“Hey! I don’t need those mental images, thanks.” Wanda protested, glaring sharply at Darcy.

“Sorry!” Darcy quickly apologised, “I can’t help it. I’m seriously horny all the time right now!”

Bucky actually laughed out loud at that. “I thought you didn’t just go around reading people’s minds.”

“I don’t. But sometimes if someone’s thoughts are powerful enough, or _graphic_ enough,” she sharpened her glare at the two of them, “they still creep in. Trust me, they are wholly uninvited.”

He lifted an eyebrow, “Rough.”

“Have you noticed I don’t spend a lot of time around Tony, especially when he’s with Pepper? I mean, they’re lovely people and all, but a girl can only take so much,” Wanda insisted. 

“Hadn’t thought about that. Fair point,” he conceded.

Bucky started to turn around so he could head back into the bedroom to finish up with his knife, but Darcy caught his hand before he’d moved too far.

“Stay,” she pleaded, tilting her head to the side.

He sighed, lightly, but he couldn’t say no to her when she gave him that look. Besides, she had long ago figured out that all it took was pointing at her belly and reminding him who was responsible for her current condition, and he would almost immediately cave to give her whatever she wanted.

One time, Sam called him whipped. Bucky asked him if _he_ wanted to challenge Darcy under normal circumstances, let alone while she was suffering from nausea, heartburn, swollen ankles, fluctuating hormones, mood swings, and unable to drink caffeine or eat soft cheeses. Sam apologized (while glancing around a bit as if Darcy would be able to hear him wherever she was).

Bucky helped her sit up, then sat down himself, letting her pillow her head on his lap.

“You’ve got perfect timing, too,” Darcy said, dipping a Cheeze-It into her jar of cookie butter before popping it into her mouth. “They’re just about to do the unconventional materials challenge.”

He gave a small chuckle at that. Those were always his favorite episodes. Darcy had even taken to challenging him by naming a random location and he would have to figure out how to make some kind of makeshift weapon using only the materials from that place. It was actually a pretty fun game, especially after Darcy made the rule that he wasn’t allowed to use any already weapon-like materials (“The designers aren’t allowed to use fabric-like materials in their challenges, so I don’t care if you _are_ in a cupcakery -- no knives! That’s cheating.”).

Bucky hadn’t even realized that his hand had found its way onto Darcy’s belly until he felt the gentle nudging beneath his metal fingers. 

“Looks like someone woke up,” Darcy mentioned casually.

“It’s not bothering you is it?” Sometimes if the baby’s kicking was especially hardcore (“I swear to god your ninja-assassin skills are genetic, because this kid is practicing jujitsu on my pancreas!”) she could calm the baby down by shifting around a bit.

“Not right now,” she answered with a smile up at him, “they’re not kicking me in the bladder or ribs so I’m cool for the time being.”

“Good.”

They were able to watch the show in peace for another several minutes before the shrill tone of several phones going off at the same time interrupted Tim Gunn calling a designer’s work “a bit matronly, don’t you think?” The sound woke up Jane, who yelped and sat up so quickly that a page of her notes remained stuck to her face, until she blinked several times and peeled it away.

“Welp, looks like it’s go time my darlings,” Darcy said, glancing at her phone screen. “Jane, come up here and go back to sleep.”

Bucky stood then helped Darcy hoist herself off the couch. 

“I’m fine,” Jane insisted, drowsily standing from her spot on the floor. “I’m good. I just need the guy to get me the thing from the… the thing.” This was followed by a massive yawn.

“Okay, honey. Sure. But just come sit here for a second,” Darcy patted the back of the couch. Jane obediently shuffled over and plopped down, almost immediately tucking her feet up and curling onto her side, face smushed into the pillows as her light snoring recommenced.

“You guys coming?” Wanda asked from the door.

“Yeah,” Bucky answered with a smile. He couldn’t help but appreciate the way that his girl just instinctually took care of everyone around her.

They left their apartment and headed for the elevator. Darcy had grabbed her tablet on the way out the door, and was already reading up on the impending mission as the car quickly ascended. The three of them got off on the floor for the armory where the others were already preparing weapons and armor, and Darcy started briefing them while they suited up.

Once they finished zipping uniforms and gathering together their various weaponized accoutrements, the team headed for the helipad.

Darcy stopped him before he boarded by threading their fingers together. 

“Be safe, sarge. Okay?”

“Of course I will,” he promised.

“Hey, I’ve heard that from you before, remember?”

“Trust me, doll. Everything worth fighting for is right back here.” He said, drawing her against him and placing a gentle hand on her belly. “Besides, I got my best gal in my ear, watching my back the whole time.”

“I do try,” she said with a wink. Then her smaller hands gripped his jacket and pulled him down for a solid kiss, full of nerves and building adrenaline as his tongue worked to match hers. When they pulled apart she smiled at him with so much love and affection in her eyes that it nearly broke him. “Now go save some shit, so you can come home faster.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Once on the quinjet, he strapped in directly across from Steve. Natalia and Clint were on the controls, and a couple seats behind them Wanda was meditating with Vision. On the other side of the jet, Stark and Thor were discussing something that seemed like intergalactic engineering (the billionaire had been all but begging Thor to bring him to Asgard so he could check out some of the other realm’s engineering marvels). Sam and Pietro were playing cards, which Bucky knew wouldn’t end well. Inevitably, Pietro would get miffed that Sam was beating him, and would start using his speed to sneak extra cards in and out of his hand while Sam blinked, which eventually Sam would cotton on to and cards would go flying. Banner still hadn’t returned from his self-imposed exile, but Natalia had received several short transmissions from him, assuring them that he was okay but just needed some space from the chaos for a while.

Bucky let out a long breath and tipped his head back against the headrest.

“Hey,” Steve’s voice called his attention back. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Bucky answered. Happy thoughts of Darcy and their fledgling family passing through his mind. “Just can’t wait to get back home.”


End file.
